Excalibur: Sentinels
by texaswookie
Summary: The Champions continue to rise as now the Champions of Magic rise to take their place amongst the chosen defenders of the world. The magical users must now stand firm against the coming storm.
1. Raven

Another addition to this series of comic book inspired heroes mixing themselves with. I own nothing of the universes in this story. Hopefully this one will get a better reaction than the Soulfire one did. Some of the crosses in this part will be expected but I think one chapter will be something of a surprise as I don't think I've ever seen a cross on it for this site. With that said I own nothing of the characters being used and they belong to their respective companies.

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**Pylea**

A brown haired girl in a burlap sack of an outfit sighed as she stared out into space for a moment as she considered the way her life was now as opposed to what she remembered it to being. Winifred (Fred) Burkle had been many things over her life. At least she thought that she had been that is. There were times that she wasn't sure what was just in her head and what was real. A part of her felt like she had been a cow for the people of Pylea for all her life, a lesser being that had been placed to serve the people of Pylea. Then there were the times that she remembered another way of living. She remembered places like Dallas and Los Angeles. A place where humans not demons were the dominant species on the planet. The names of people or groups like John Wayne and the Dixie Chicks. Whenever she tried to speak of these thing to others like her though she got confused and pitying looks. None of them had heard of the names or places, and were unsure how to respond to her mad ravings as she spoke of people and places that none of them had ever heard of.

There were those amongst her fellow cows/slaves that enjoyed her tales, but that was all. She was a source of amusement for the others for the most part. She knew that while there were those that seemed to enjoy her company that she was likely to be amongst the first of the women to be offered up to their master for food or sacrifice when the time came. None of the males felt the need to mate with her since there were times that they could not count on her to do things correctly. While she knew their ways she was also considered something of a troublemaker as well. Her habit of running away was one that annoyed both their masters and the slaves since they sometimes bore the brunt of their annoyance. She would be gone for short or long periods of time always trying to remind herself of the symbols that had brought her to this place. Trying to find the right combination that would allow her to go back to that world with delicious tacos.

Not that finding the combinations was all that easy, there were hunters that found great joy in tracking and dragging her back to whichever demon decided that she was worth the most. It had actually become something of a game for them to let her loose and let her fend for herself before bothering to hunt and track her down. She knew that there were others that they allowed to run and she also knew that as soon as they decided that she was no longer fun to hunt then she would be sacrificed. She had seen what happened to the other runners that they had become bored with. Many of them had been offered up in sacrifice to those that they considered heroes fed to these great warriors. It also didn't help to try and fight either, since they had all the weapons and even if she occasionally tricked one or two lone hunters into provoking wild animals. She knew that if she made a habit out of it that they would send all of their forces against her, and even the occasional cow that did survive that there was still the Groosalug one had to contend with before they could ever allow themselves to be free. The half Pylean and half human warrior was reputed as one of the strongest and powerful fighters around. The ultimate champion of Pylea. She had known several other runners that had tried to fight that had managed to survive past hunting parties of all sorts to be taken down by the Groosalug. He was their champion that kept peace within the lands, answering only to the High Priests of the Wolf Ram and Hart. When Groosalug came for you it meant that you were dead. He was simply too relentless in his chasing of you.

She finished her latest equation, and prepared to try out her latest incantation so that she could try and get out of here. She looked up though upon seeing one of the hunting packs. She recognized the green skinned figures. It was members of the Deathwok clan. Some of the best trackers that came from this dimension they possessed some sort of sensing ability that made it near impossible for someone to manage to get away from them once they had the scent of your essence. They must be taking her most recent escape seriously if they of all beings were hunting her. Either that or they had run across her trail and decided to earn a little bit of extra money by bringing her in. She was only glad that she wasn't at her cave. She would have hated if they were to discover her hideout where she normally worked on these things.

She would have to try making her wormhole later, preferably when she wasn't being hunted by the Deathwok Clan. If she was lucky she would even remember the formula for her latest theory. Hiding the bark that she had been using as paper she made sure it was protected and then began circling around. If she could lead them away, then perhaps she could get a chance. She began rushing through already hearing the sound of her trackers as they began chasing her. The joking manner that the group was chasing her let her know that they were treating this as nothing more than a game. She bit back a sob even as she could hear them thundering after her. They would have already caught her if it weren't for the fact that they seemed to be having to much fun with the chase.

"Come brothers, the cow goes this way!" She heard one of them call out.

"The last to reach it must buy the first round." Another called out. She heard the crack of a whip and realized that despite how fast she was going they were quickly closing the distance between her and them. She stumbled as a whip wrapped around her legs and with a jerk the leather cords tightened and sent her sprawling to the ground. The slave girl groaned as she rolled to her side. Before she could do much more her slave collar activated and she was introduced to pain as energy flowed through her. She wished she had remembered to deactivate the collar, but she had been busy working on her equations and it had slipped her mind.

"So it's this one again is it?" One of them said as he forced her onto her back with the toe of his boot. "How many times have we chased this one brothers?"

"It is not our fault that they cannot keep track of their Cows brother." Another said bemusedly. "Although I would think that they would feel properly shamed at having the same Cow always managing to escape from their pens. Then again, if it did not escape we would not have as much fun either." The brothers all snickered at the fact that this one slave could manage to beat all of the best methods of containing a Cow.

Fred noted that there appeared to be three of them. One of them had a heavy net slung over his shoulder another had the end of the whip that had captured her in his hand and the final one was carrying an ax. The green skinned and orange haired beings seemed oblivious to the fact that she was in so much pain. There were times she wished that she could return the pain that these creatures were so quick to deal out.

"Come Cow, we will return to our camp for tonight then tomorrow we shall take you back to your masters." The one with the net said as he tied a rope to her collar and forced her to her feet. "Tomorrow we shall be rewarded for returning this one back to where it belongs yet again."

"Do you think that he'll honor the gamble and let us keep it this time?" The ax wielder questioned. "Did he not bet that he could keep it in or we could claim the cow for ourselves?"

"Indeed he did brother, but it is still right that we bring it back to him so that he knows that we did not steal it. It is the honorable thing to do." The whip wielder noted. "If the Merchant wishes to honor the bet fine, if not we shall not question him on it either. This is as our high mother has commanded the horrid giantess that she is. Unless you wish to defy her as Krevlornswath did? There has still been no sign of the little maggot that acts like a Cow. Did you forget that the dance of exultation was ordered by her upon his being proclaimed as missing?" The others nodded their acceptance of the ruling none wanting to counter the woman that may have killed or banished her only surviving son in order to maintain order within the Deathwok Clan.

"It's a shame, he always did make for such fine bait on quests." One of the others said with a grin. "Using Cows as bait is nowhere near as amusing as that of Krevlornswath." This comment caused the others to snicker in remembrance of some past quests that Krevlornswath had gone on with them before his disappearance.

"Move cow." One of the demons ordered, pushing Fred harshly in order to make her speed up. "Perhaps you will tell us some of your gibberish of worlds where Cows are the supreme beings at a later date." He jeered at her in amusement causing all of the demons to laugh at the idea of Cows being anything more than the slaves that they already were. Cows were to weak and simple minded to ever be anything more as far as they were concerned.

The group returned to what appeared to be a campsite and while the one with the net tied their captive down the others went about various tasks of preparing food. Some of the lesser duties were foisted onto Fred so that she at least make it easier on them. As the night wound down the group finally fell into sleep.

Fred was relieved at the even breathing of the group. The brother's had slapped her around so many times that she had bruises on her bruises it felt like. She also had a split lip a few burns from hot soup that had splashed on her arm and the back of her head hurt where one of the brothers had pulled her aside by her hair. That didn't even count the injuries she had from her owners attention. Now that they were asleep Fred began trying to recall everything that she had written on her bark and what needed to be changed or added. She was unaware that she was mumbling the equations out loud. She began stumbling over the latest attempt of what she thought was the pronunciation for the spell that brought her here.

She was shocked when there was a flash of light and when it faded one of the darkest birds that Fred had ever seen was now sitting on a nearby tree branch. The sun was already nearly gone and the firelight didn't seem to be able to make it any more visible than the outline of the animal that she could see. The feathers were all black and they seemed to absorb the very light of the surrounding area up into it. The bird regarded the girl with interest cocking its head from side to side as it examined her. Fred felt her face heat up as she realized that on someway or other she was being judged by the dark creature. She was unsure if that was a good or a bad thing though when one considered just where it was that she was. There was no telling what the bird wanted.

She nearly screamed when she heard an echoing voice in her head. "Greetings child."

She quickly bowed her head to the creature. "You speak?" She asked cautiously, unsure if it was her own fractured mind that was making her believe that the bird was talking to her somehow.

"Not in the way that you do." The voice in her head returned. "My body is incapable of using words like you would understand. I am communicating with you through my mind to your mind."

"A mind meld?" Fred asked as she remembered the person she thought was her father having been a fan of Star Trek and talking of such things long ago.

The bird paused as it considered that reference before shrugging it off. "If you wish to call it that then you may." It finally said.

This more than anything else convinced Fred that the voice was real since she had been thinking of the idea of what a mind meld was, the bird continued on though unaware of the multiple thoughts that were flying through the girl's head. "You are Winifred Burkle of the Earth dimension are you not?"

"Am I? I mean, I think I am." Fred returned to the bird uncertainly. "It's hard to remember sometimes." She explained to the bird that was staring at her.

"Yes the beings here have tried your mind to its limits and beyond young one. All that you have unjustly suffered because of one man's jealousy is a shame. That is not why I answered your attempts at trying to return home though."

"Who or what are you though?" Fred asked meekly.

'I am the Spirit of the Plains. Some call me Crow, others know me as Raven, and still other have known me as Coyote. I am both Creator and Trickster. You may call me Tejas though."

"Are you?" Fred asked hopefully as her mind recalled the land of her birth and what that word was supposed to mean. In the old days Tejas had been the way you said Texas. Translated into English though Tejas had another meaning. Tejas also stood for friend.

"I would like to think so." Tejas returned to her.

"Why are you here though?" Fred wondered to the figure.

"You are a child of Texas." Tejas returned to her as if that explained everything that she needed to know. "While you are not of the people I normally protect those whose people have been in my land longer than yours but those that are destined for more interesting lives I watch from time to time Winifred Burkle. And you were destined for something great."

"I don't have a destiny." Fred argued back meekly. "I'm not strong or anything like that." The girl knew that there were those that had life missions. These people were usually champions or great beings that would do much. Such a fate was for those like the Groosalugg not for one like her. The idea that she had such a fate was amusing to her. How could she ever be a hero when she couldn't protect herself?

"You did though." Tejas argued back at her. "It was to be your mission to help the Ensouled one with finding his place within the world. You were to be the mind to the street warrior's muscle. After that you were to host a great power that would change the tide of battle. Your memories was going to turn a Demon-God-King into a Champion of Light. Your legacy would be remembered long after you would have died because you were what made heroes. It would have been a life that would prove most interesting. The current overseers of destiny were unprepared though and much of what was planned was destroyed because they were not willing to protect those that it was their duty to protect. With their failures having destroyed many plans that could have purified your world having woken many of the Elder Gods back to watching out for the world we find ourselves now scrambling to find suitable representatives for us. Yours is but one of many destinies that we Elder Beings now have to fix thanks to the others. With your own destiny having been derailed you are mine to choose what to do with. I have chosen you to be one of the Earth's Guardians. You shall not face them as a brain or as a sacrifice but as a Champion."

"But I'm not a champion." Fred reminded Tejas stubbornly. "I'm well, I'm me." She said pitifully.

Tejas regarded her for a moment assessing her abilities as they were now. "True enough but when I am done with you, you shall have power." Tejas assured her. "I offer you a piece of my power to take the name of one of my aspects and to become a strong champion that will fight for those that need it."

"And you'll take me back to Earth?" Fred asked the bird hopefully.

"When I am done with you child you shall take yourself back." The large bird assured her. "I shall make you my Raven when all is said and done."

"Raven, like the comics?" The girl asked as she recalled some of the comics that her friends had sometimes read while they were experimenting with things.

"Indeed young one." Tejas said. "In fact that is exactly what you shall become. You Winifred Burkle will truly be my Raven. There is only one question left for you now. Are you ready to be strong?"

Fred looked the large bird in the eye. "Yes," She whispered out.

The large bird didn't say anything as it stretched its wings and rose into the air for a moment and the animal seemed to grow until it was taller than the tree that it had been sitting on a moment ago. The outstretched wings then folded around her.

Fred gasped as she felt the power filling her. It was like nothing that she had ever felt before. This was like being warm and comforted and frozen with terror all at the same time.

As the power filled her Tejas talked to Fred through the mental communication. "Easy young one, I am changing you in ways that you are unprepared for." It warned her. "Having the power is good, but you will need more than the power you need basic knowledge of how to control the power. Let me show you what you will be capable of." Fred felt knowledge fill her mind she even learned the reasoning behind her being summoned. She learned of the loss of Harry Potter and Hermionie Granger one dead and one that disappeared. With them gone the dark wand wizards known as Death Eaters were gathering amongst themselves. The American Military taking an interest into the supernatural and trying to find a way to force it to bow to its control. Many of the people that had once hunted demons and other supernatural creatures having been destroyed while there was an increase in demon numbers thanks to the Devils Gate that was cracked open. The rise of Illyria happening about two or three years early and retaining more of its power than expected. Add in the fact that the Illyria wasn't helping, and had nearly taken over the entire European wizading world. Even now the Illyria had a tight grip on parts of the wizarding world even if they were no longer united in their efforts to control it. The loss of so many of the Seals of Hell and the Angels that were supposed to guard them. The breaking of the box that held Lucifer prisoner. The raising of the Four Horsemen who were even now out in the world causing all sorts of terror and destruction to all that they came across. That didn't even count all of the other people that had died while trying to keep the world safe. She realized that the world that she was going be returning to was a world that was just as scary and dangerous of a one as Pylea was. Even when she did return to her home it would not be to return to the life that she had before. Tejas was giving her a responsibility.

Suddenly the darkness from the wings broke apart and she fell to the ground. The bag like shift that she wore had disappeared, she was now wearing a dark cloak complete with a hood, under that she was wearing a long ankle length dress that was split on either side giving her legs a freedom of movement. Her feet which had been bare were now covered in simple yet tough boots that went up her calves. On closer inspection she noticed that her cloak was not cloth but was made of feathers that were woven together so finely that they appeared like cloth unless the light hit it just right. The slave collar that had been around her neck broke and fell down in front of. The girl could only look on in disbelief as she saw the broken bits of metal lying on the ground. Her hands went to her throat where she felt her neck. She was free.

She looked up to see several Pylean Priests gathered around her. Each of them had a staff that was glowing with magical energy. Standing nearby were several warriors holding a variety of weapons. "What's going on?" Fred questioned worriedly as she looked at the assembled forces that were staring at her.

"Changing you into a being of power is not an overnight task when we are not in our home dimension young one." Tejas chided his champion. You now have the power to become the champion now be my champion be the Raven and battle those that would try and enslave and kill you.

Fred nodded her head in acceptance of the command even as she looked at the group that surrounded her with a keen eye as she tried to figure which were the most dangerous to her.

"Good luck my Raven." Tejas said telepathically, Fred watched silently as the entity flew up into a tree and took up a spot where it could watch what would happen next.

"You Cow, what is the meaning of this?" The leader of the Wolf Ram and Hart the High Priest Silas demanded arrogantly as he marched forward till he was standing halfway between her and the ones that had her surrounded. Raven only recognized him because of the various items he had that gave away his position. "The price of Cows practicing magic's is death." He ground out at her angrily he then pointed a gnarled hand at her. "Kill her and place her head on a pike as a reminder for all of those that would dare to ignore the edicts of the masters of this land."

Raven clenched her fists and her cloak billowed in an unfelt wind. She then rose up into the air so that she was hovering several feet above the ones that held her in slavery for so long. It was finally her turn to show what she was made of. Her turn to take back the life that they had stolen from her. She free, and she was strong.

"Fire!" Silas ordered.

Several of the soldiers nodded raised their weapons and launched them at her. Crossbow bolts and spears flew at her. Raven didn't even flinch as the weapons came flying at her. She raised her hand in the air and a shield of darkness seemed to rise around her and blocked all of the incoming projectiles.

"So you choose to resist do you?" Silas demanded in annoyance. "Very well then Cow, we will show what true magic is. Sorcerers show this Cow what happens when a true user of the mystic arts uses their true power."

Various mages stepped forward from behind the soldiers and started muttering spells that flashed from them and rained down on the barrier. Raven gritted her teeth under the assault as she poured more and more energy into her shield. The force of the spells knocked her from the air until she was hovering but other than that she didn't have any damage.

"This one is strong my lord." One of the sorcerers noted. "Perhaps we should capture it and find out where it gained its knowledge and turn its power to our uses."

"Take her down find out what her knowledge and where it comes from and then you can decide what to do with her." Silas returned with an uncaring shrug. "Just make sure that she's made an example of."

The Sorcerer nodded its heads in acceptance as it waved its companions forward. "You heard the High Priest I want a spell casting Cow serving me." The lead Sorcerer ordered the others. The group began casting more powerful spells. This time the blasts ripped through the shield that had protected Raven and forced her to go flying back. Magical chains and ropes appeared and wrapped themselves around her arms and legs stretching her out in a spread eagle position making it impossible for her to make even the slightest gesture."Perhaps she is not as powerful as we thought." The Sorcerer said looking disappointed at the thought. "She must have stolen her raiment and she learned a levitation spell and a powerful shield spell. Otherwise she is nothing special. Now press the attack and finish her off. If the Cow is not skilled enough to be a decent Mystic then the magic in her blood shall serve as our next sacrifice." He declared to his companions. The others roared their approval as they prepared spells to bind the female Cow and her powers until they were ready to use her.

"Enough!" Raven declared as she pulled her arms and legs back snapping and shattering the various enchanted bindings that held her much to the shock of the various demons. She then shot back into the air and sent a telekinetic wave out that bowled all of the sorcerers over. "You want a challenge? I'll give you a challenge." Raven said as a dark bird like image appeared around her and began yanking trees out of the ground and flinging them back at the various gathered demonic sorcerers. The group was caught by surprise as they were now being forced on the defensive side of things something that they were not used to. The group despite their falling back were holding their own though as they destroyed trees as they came at her. Raven smirked as she readied another distraction for the group.

"Look up there." One said and they all turned to see several more versions of the girl shimmer into view above and behind them.

"There are more of them?" A sorcerer grumbled out in surprise as the group switched from the single target to focus on the newly arrived group that was flying above them. They fired an assortment of spells to bring the newest group down before they could cause anymore problems.

"Hold." Silas commanded as he watched the group not even seem to notice the wave of mystical energy that was thrown at them. some of the blasts had actually gone right through them in fact. "They are not there, it is only an illusion." He said in disgust at how easily they had been tricked.

"Correct." Raven said, as she was suddenly amongst the group. Moving arms in a sloppy type of combat that had her arms curled into claws she lashed out with telekinetic energy grasping at the sorceress and hurling them away like a temperamental child throwing toys to the side. Several of the sorcerers spun around and fired mystical energy blasts at the figure that was now amongst them. Raven moved and blocked the attacks with either her telekinesis or creating a shield. The blasts that did manage to break through those defenses splattered harmlessly against her cloak which seemed to be acting as some sort of armor against magical attacks.

"Enough!" A voice barked out causing both sides to stop their fighting to see who had interrupted them. Standing there watching the fight was a single figure that was wearing a cloak which he quickly flipped off of his head. There were several gasps when they saw who it was. Dressed with a metal chest plate and armor with long hair that framed their face people could see the well chiseled face of the Groosalugg the champion of Pylea. "Do not throw the lives of your warriors away, not when one such as I will try to subdue this Cow." Groosalugg offered to the High Priest.

Silas waved the sorcerers and soldiers away while Raven kept herself at the ready. Raven noted that by the standards of her old life that Groosalugg would be considered incredibly handsome. Which was something of a surprise since she had heard that he was such an ugly being. Then again human and demon standards of beauty were vastly different as well. She mused to herself as she continued to take him in. Standing around six foot with well-defined muscles and moving with an easy grace of a predator that would make most people jealous. One of his more impressive features were his eyes though. The entire eyeball was completely black leaving only the whites to hold the black. It gave him a rather exotic look. Raven shook her head as she focused on the figure noticing how he was drawing a shield and sword from a nearby pack. With the chest plate he was already wearing it would make this difficult. The weapon and armor were also of a much higher quality than what the soldiers wore as well. No, the Groosalugg was going to be a much more serious opponent for her it would seem. She thought as she waited for him to approach her.

"To battle shall we go." Groosalugg said brightly hefting his weapons eagerly.

Raven snorted in amusement as he managed to mangle the rather simple saying. He was either rather stupid or English was not his first language. Since she doubted an idiot was the undisputed best fighter in Pylea she figured he must have other language skills. Which made him even more dangerous since it would be real easy to underestimate him and fall into the trap of believing him a simpleton. "Let's do this." She said as she felt her power gather around her hands.

The pair moved at each other. Raven began grabbing various fallen tree branches and head sized rock and began flinging them at Groosalugg. The half-breed responded by ducking or intercepting the attacks with his weapons. His shield managed to block some rocks, his sword sliced through a couple of branches and the smaller items bounced off his chest plate harmlessly. Scowling she gathered some of the fallen spears and crossbow bolts and flung them at him.

Groosalugg ran forward at the attack and then at the last moment he dropped to his knees sliding the last few feet. The weapons she had flung at him sailed harmlessly over his head. He then came to a stop at Raven's feet. He swung the sword only for it to be stopped by a piece of wood. Dropping the sword he performed an uppercut punch with his shield arm the edge of the shield catching Raven in the chest as he moved to his feet. Raven gasped in shock and pain from the blow as she staggered back Groosalugg followed the attack with a downward hammer blow aimed at her head.

Raven raised her hands in front of her and a black bird shape in the form a kite shield appeared between them blocking the attack from connecting with her. The shield then shot forward slamming into Groosalugg knocking him back. "I'm not 'going to let you put a collar back on me." Raven said angrily, as she raised her hand up and a giant bird claw shot out of nowhere and knocked the shield away another one came from the other side slammed him into a tree and pinned him. "You think you have power? Let me show you power." She said angrily her eyes glowing with unrestrained energy as she tightened her grip the claw dug into the tree causing it to crack.

The pinned warrior grunted in pain as he felt his ribs crack from the power of the claw that was getting ever tighter. The Groosalugg had not gotten to the point that he had though for such an attempt to hold him for long tough. With a burst of strength he managed to break the hold that Raven had on him. He then slid to the ground while a disbelieving Raven watched as he landed on his feet in a hunched over posistion. "You are a strong one." Groosalugg complimented her as he finally straightened himself up. "This shall make our battle all the more amazing." He said excitedly.

"We'll just have to see about that." Raven returned as she lifted herself back into the air.

"You have power, and even have some knowledge on how to use it, but you have no experience in using it." Groosalugg noted as he twirled his sword between his fingers a few times.

Raven realized that her original assessment of Groosalugg was correct he was not some mindless simpleton with a sword. While they had been fighting he had been learning how to deal with the threat that she represented. He was probably also trying to consider the best way to deal with her as well.

Groosalugg continued unaware of the thoughts that the witch was thinking. "I on the other hand have been trained for battle." He drew a knife and flung it at Raven who raised a shield to block it. While she was distracted the Groosalugg ran and leaped at her. His sword raised overhead he then slammed it down. The shield wavered for a moment before it shattered.

Raven swore angrily as the sword slashed her arm. The cut wasn't deep, but it was painful and she lost her concentration falling to the ground again. Groosalugg rolled on the ground and came back up to his feet throwing dirt at Raven.

Raven tried to blink as dirt now blinded her. She summoned her power and sent a psychic blast at the warrior who winced in pain at the strike. His advantage lost as quickly as he had gained it as his opponent showed yet another method of attacking.

"This is taking too long." Silas grumbled as he watched the fight go back and forth. "The Groosalugg is supposed to be some sort of incredible warrior and yet this new user to the craft somehow manages to stand up to him. This half-breed has obviously been overrated for his skills if this girl is able to stop him. Kill her, if he gets in the way, it is no true loss if the half-breed is destroyed." The sorcerers nodded as they began muttering and resumed firing blasts of magical energy at the Cow.

Groosalugg laughed as he began dodging the attacks that the mystics were sending at them. "This will truly make the fight all that much more of a greater challenge." He declared excitedly as he danced around the magical attacks. His eyes lit up in excitement at the new challenge that the sorcerers were giving his battle. "Now back to our battle." He declared as he rushed at her. He was forced to back off though as several of the spells came dangerously close to striking him.

"Back off." Raven said, as she raised her shield and blocked the spells from hitting either of them.

"A most honorable action." Groosalugg complimented as he watched as his opponent protected them both from destruction with her shield. For a Cow she was not all that bad. He thought to himself. He held his hand unwilling to attack someone that was protecting them both. Unimpressed with the counter that the cow had come up with, the sorcerers began to chant and suddenly the very ground itself seemed to lift up and close in around them. Groosalugg looked uncertain at this not sure if his powerful and honorable opponent would be able to stand up to this attack.

Silas smirked as he saw that two problems were being deal with at once. While the Groosalugg had his uses, he was also an annoyance considering his Cow like appearance. It had been rather embarrassing that a lowly creature such as him had managed to rise above what many of the other pure people of Pylea had been capable of. The fact that all of his deeds meant he was likely the prophesized ruler of the realm had not been one that he had been looking forward to. The day that the seer would be found and the creature would Com-Shuck with it. To see him now dead buried beneath him, trapped within the might of the ground itself was indeed a pleasing sight. No longer would he have to pander to the simpleton and his longing for tasks and battles. The ground began to shake and he could only imagine that this was the earth grinding their bodies together. He would have to be sure to compliment the sorcerers for adding in that bit to the spell. It was a fitting end for the pair that would try to rise above their stations. He was surprised when the ground erupted and a giant black bird like creature made of mystical energy flew out of the hole. He half expected for the beast to let out some sort of predatory shriek as it rose from the earth.

When the dust cleared they were all shocked to see the Cow mystic hovering above them while glaring at them like they were cockroaches. Hovering alongside of her was the battered Groosalugg who seemed too dazed to do anything right now.

"You thought that was going to be enough to stop me?" Raven asked in annoyance. Several of the sorcerers shifted nervously as they realized that while the girl was dirty se was nowhere near as dirty as she should be after having been buried alive.

"Destroy her." Silas ordered fearfully as he realized that this thing was not going to do as he wanted and quietly die. They all began attacking throwing weapons and firing spells in an attempt to destroy the Cow that defied them. The various attacks splashed harmlessly against a black orb shield barrier that was holding them back.

"I don't have time for this." Raven said as she let forth a burst of power all of the demons froze as they felt their senses being taken over. Raven seemed to turn into a dark figure as her soul-self came out to fight. The soul-self was her raw mental energy and was one of her more impressive attacks. With this she could wage mental war against her opponents. Her soul-self passed through each of the beings that were still on the field. As each mage was passed through they fell to the ground soon a few members of the Deathwok Clan and Groosalugg were all that remained standing as the others had all fallen to the ground.

"What magic's is this?" Groosalugg questioned with awe as he looked at the fallen forms of the leaders of the land.

"Mind magic's." Raven returned to him shortly. "Only those who wish to protect the people will walk away from this fight."

"And who shall rule now?" Groosalugg questioned her curiously. As he saw the fallen forms of the worshipers of the Wolf Ram and Hart. "Will you be taking the seat of power now?" He asked her as his eyes darted around the ground looking for a decent weapon should he need it.

No, you will" Raven said. "Free the humans and make it so that all beings have equal voices in the world. If they don't like it challenge them to combat. Let the winner decide who is king."

Groosalugg's eyes lit up at that prospect of deciding on who would be master of the land. "Very well, with you as my advisor we shall wait for the one of foresight comes so that I may Com-Shuck and once I have the power of visions I shall be the greatest of rulers with the power of sight and you to aide me as needed." Groosalugg said happily, as he considered all that the future now held for them and that was going to happen.

"No," Raven returned darkly as she glared at him defiantly. "I have a life of my own to return to. This is not my home and it never will be. Pylea has done nothing for me and I only did what I had to too prove myself worthy and because they attacked me first."

Groosalugg didn't look happy and the few members that were still conscious were afraid that the newly appointed leader was going to have a very short lifespan. The figure finally nodded his unhappy acceptance as he stepped back from Raven.

Raven nodded her thanks and raised her arms and all those that were conscious stepped back as they saw a giant bird spread its wings. When the bird disappeared so to had Raven.

* * *

**Los Angeles**

Raven smiled as she found herself appearing on the top of a building. She looked down and saw several familiar looking sights of the city that had become her home so long ago. She took a deep breath even as she pushed her hood back. The air was slightly polluted but it was a smell that she was actually happy to have coming back to her senses. To her it meant that she was back.

It was good to be home. Fred though happily. Now she needed to find a Mexican food buffet place. As she turned around her thoughts were on tacos and enchiladas ones that weren't made out of bark. She did smile though at all the black birds that flew around her though. Who knows she might even return to her home state after this.


	2. Sister Witches

And we're back with another chapter, one that's super long too! I nearly broke it into two parts, but figured this way I could get it all out there. Besides this way I can start working on the next part which has crossover that I've never seen with this site.

Now for the disclaimer: I own nothing of the various characters that are being portrayed in this work of fiction and am in no way receiving any monetary compensation. So the Charmed characters belong to the WB, the comic book characters belong to Marvel and D.C comics, and from last chapter Fred Groo and the whole dimension of Pylea are Joss Whedon's creations. Did I miss any?

* * *

San Francisco

Two sisters faltered a bit as time was reset. Their memories of everything that had happened that day destroyed as the effects of Tempus the demon of Time used his power. They had but moments to react, as the demon Shax burst into their home. A few years ago they would have been terrified at the sight of the elemental demon, but now they knew what was going on and how to face it. Learning that they were witches and that they were champions of the world had been awfully disturbing, but they had learned and grown into formidable magic users. Now as time had passed, they had also learned that they weren't completely alone in the fight of Light vs. Dark. They may not have been the most knowledgeable, but they made up for it in their power and willingness to continue on despite everything that they had encountered.

These women were sisters, and they had learned much in the past few years. They were the Halliwell sisters' descendants' of one of the most powerful family of witches. They were the descendants of Melinda Warren. Each of them was gifted with the ability of one wandless skill like all of their kind of witches possessed. A prophecy had been made years ago that told of their births and how they would fight the darkness that was demons.

The eldest, a tall dark haired blue eyed woman was Prudence 'Prue' Halliwell. Prue was arguably the more power of the group with her personal power being skilled in telekinesis and astral projection. The younger and shorter sister with brown hair and eyes was Piper. Piper while not as powerful as Prue had a more destructive ability, as she could slow or speed up molecules causing something to either freeze or explode. They were two thirds of the legendary Charmed Ones.

This was not on their minds though as they began battling with the demon assassin that had just invaded their home to kill their innocent. A large wind blew every loose item around the room as it appeared in a small tornado. The demon was gray skinned, had long white hair, made moaning sounds instead of talking, and wore loose clothes that hung off its body. With a wave of its hands it sent the two witches hurtling across the room before it turned on its target, and the innocent that it had been sent to destroy, and that the witches had been ordered to protect. Heedless of the danger that she was in, Prue rushed back to her feet and pushed the man out of the way.

Shax who had been aiming for the doctor instead hit Prue with his full power. The strike was so strong that it sent Prue flying through the wall behind her. Piper rushed the demon intending to deal with him only to get blasted through the remains of the wall that her sister had been flung through, tearing the last of the wall apart.

The demon Shax smiled as he then turned to look at the small doctor. "What are you?" The man asked in a terrified voice.

"Death." Shax returned, as he fired a bolt of elemental energy at the man. The man was lifted up and tossed through a large window. Shax smirked as he looked around the room at his handiwork. He had managed to take out not only his target but he had also managed to destroy two of the more powerful members of the Charmed Ones. He returned to his twister form and spun out of the house, the large doors slammed shut behind him shattering.

As the pair of witches landed and began to bleed out from their various injuries, a single invisible figure watched over them sadly as Leo appeared and began to heal his wife. The blonde whitelighter worked quickly doing everything that he could to save the life of his wife. Once she had been revived he then turned and began trying to heal his sister in law, but there didn't seem to be any affect despite all of the effort that the whitelighter was putting into it.

The invisible figure ignored the whitelighter as he desperately pushed his power into the eldest of the three sisters. The figure said nothing as it knelt down beside his favorite of the three sisters. He hated it when it came time to collect the souls of those that he knew. It was why he disliked allowing himself to get to close to anyone. He was a Death Angel though, and whether he cared for a person or not it was his duty to collect their souls when the time came. As a Death Angel he was a hybrid creature, being one part Angel and one part Reaper. One of the few collaboration projects that God and Death had ever worked on together. He stood outside the influence of many others, obeying neither one aspect nor the other. Only God and Death could command him, much to the aggravation to a majority of the Holy Host who thought he should be one of them and follow the commands of the other angels. He was too powerful for most of them to confront though, being only slightly below Michael and Lucifer. This forced most of the Angels to leave him alone.

Early into her career as a witch, Prue Halliwell had forced herself into his existence. Despite her initial dislike of him the pair had formed a mutual respect for each other. It was the closest thing he had had to a friend in a long time. It was true she thought that he was Death itself and not Reaper. It made things easier though if witches didn't understand everything. With the release of the true Death though, he wasn't sure how that was going to work now. Knowing his master, he doubted that he would care as long as he collected the souls that he was supposed to. Speaking of, he had a job to do right now. He reached over to take the soul of the young woman who had forced him to interact slightly with others, even as her sister knelt down beside her, calling out her name begging for her to live.

"Stay thine hand Azrael." Several echoing voices ordered him.

Azrael, the Angel of Death looked up in surprise as he saw who was before him and trying to stop him. "Hekate." He greeted in his usual solemn tone. He watched her warily as she somehow managed to hold his grasp of Prue back. While there were few ways that he could die, there were ways of imprisoning or hurting him and one such as this had that ability if he wasn't very careful. "You know the way the world works, better than most do. I have to take her, there can be no exceptions even for her." He explained to the Triple Goddess. "Death has ordered it, and so I must do so."

Hekate arched her brow at this as she looked the figure up and down. He looked the same as ever, the only difference was the look of remorse that was in his eyes. "So the rumors are true. You, the eldest of Death's Reapers and holder to the title of Angel of Death have created a bond of friendship with a witch. It has been some time since that has happened old friend." Hekate noted to him with a sad smile.

"Indeed, and despite that, I have to carry my duties out." Azrael informed the Goddess as he sadly looked upon the figure before him. "Even she understand this."

"Not this time." Hekate said as she placed her own hand over the hand of Azrael. "The balance has finally tipped. The loss of a Charmed One is a burden that the Earth cannot take at this time. I am here to help mend the balance though, before it threatens to tip beyond recovery. You know very well what could happen if such a thing were to occur."

"The Elders have not altered the balance that would make such a thing necessary though." Azrael returned confused as to what the old God was trying here. He had naturally heard of the imbalance within the world, and was well aware of the rise of the rebirth of the Age of Champions because of it as the various powers that had been choosing new avatars. The Pagans had become as much a part of the problem as they were the answer, and it was time to start again. That being said though, the Charmed Ones were under the jurisdiction of the Elders, unlike the Slayer or the Vampire with a Soul who had been given their freedom from the Powers that Be. Of all the champions he had figured that the Charmed Ones would be the least affected by the imbalance of good and evil considering their relationship with the Elders. While it was not perfect, it was better than most Champions had with their supervisor.

"True, unlike their fellow higher beings the Elders have not ignored the plight of the Champions as others have." Hekate admitted to the Angel of Death. "The rules have bound them to do only so much for so long though. The bindings that have dictated such things have finally been loosened though. Thanks to others, the Balance has tilted and we need to repair it. Even you must have known that the sisters were fighting more demons than even they should have had to."

"If what you say is true and you are here to alter the balance, then how do you plan to do that?" Azrael questioned her with interest.

"We balance the power of the world by creating champions and increasing the power of some of our current Champions." Hekate explained to him. "There are those that will help change the balance if we let them."

Azrael nodded he understood that there was reasoning behind this action. There were still rules and laws that he had to obey though. "And you want me to hold off on my duties why?"

"You mean beside the fact that I've already healed your witch and returned her to the living?" Hekate questioned him with a smile.

Azrael shook his head not seeming to care about this little trivial matter on the still unconscious witch. "I deeply wish I could allow you to do this, I truly do. But even if I were to allow you to do so what of the others? You really think that the Angels of Destiny are going to allow you to meddle in this?"

"The balance that the prophecies that they have been safeguarding have all been rendered useless thanks to the gathering of darkness in this world and the bumbling of others." Hekate returned to him coolly. "They have no say in this matter, besides with the momentary death of Prudence Halliwell however brief that it was the power of the Charmed Ones has been broken and tilted things even farther into the dark, granting The Source and those like him even more power."

The Angel of Death didn't look very happy, but he could see the reason in her words. "Very well, I have but a small favor to ask in return then." Azrael requested of the woman.

"If you wish to be a source of power for this one you know that I cannot allow that." Hekate returned to him. "They are witches, and they are mine, which is why I can affect them. Besides, after all this, there won't even be any Charmed Ones left. They shall be powerful though, more powerful than they ever thought possible. All of the sisters shall enjoy the power that I shall give them."

Azrael nodded as he got up and gave the old goddess room to work. While she did that he sent his mind to request guidance from Death. While he was still bound to obey Lucifer, Death could still give out orders and commands that the Reapers and Azrael could follow. The answer he received was as quick as it was startling to him. Back off and let the Goddess do her work. Death was not known for playing favorites or granting favors even to higher beings, but it seemed that something had caused him to call his most powerful agent off for some reason or other.

Hekate smiled as she raised her hands and a burst of light erupted all around them.

Piper froze as she tried to figure out where she was. She could see Phoebe off to the side and some unknown pale skinned woman. They were no longer at the manor though and Leo wasn't with them either wherever here was. It actually looked some sort of courtyard or temple. That didn't matter to her right now though her big sister was dead in her arms.

"Um Piper, could you get off of me?" Prue pleaded with her younger sister who had a death grip on her.

"Prue, you're alive!" The brown haired witch said in relief, tightening her grip on her older sister in relief.

"Not for much longer if you don't let go of me." Prue gasped out. Piper ignored her and just held onto her sister for the moment. Crying with relief that Prue hadn't died on them like she and Leo had thought that she had.

"Um excuse me, but can someone please tell me what is going on here?" The pale skinned woman questioned nervously as she eyed the pair of emotionally spent women that were holding onto each other.

"Not sure yet really." Phoebe admitted, trying to take charge of the situation while her sister had a meltdown. "So who are you?"

"Who me, I'm Paige, Paige Matthews." The woman said offering her hand out to the other woman.

"Okay, do either of you know her?" The youngest of the Halliwell sisters questions getting negative shakes of the head. "Huh that is odd." The young woman said as she offered her own hand. "Well I'm Phoebe, the crazy one is Piper and then the one being squished to death is Prue. So any idea how it is you got here or how we got dragged along?" Prue and Piper nodded to the unknown as they climbed to their feet. Piper had yet to completely release Prue though, and was still holding her arm in a vice like grip. As if her grip was the only thing that was keeping her sister alive.

"Um no." Paige returned nervously. "I was hoping that you could tell me what is going on actually."

"Uh huh." Prue said suspiciously her eyes narrowing as she looked at the woman. She had already died once according to what she could make out from Piper. She didn't want to chance it happening again with her sisters.

"Peace Prudence Halliwell." An echoing set of voices spoke out cutting any dangerous remarks off. They all turned to see someone seeming to appear from nowhere. She had a regular looking body until one noticed that it was ever changing. One minute it was a teenager then it appeared to be an old woman and then a middle aged woman. "This girl has done nothing wrong, and knows not what is happening as she is thy half sister and knows not of our lifestyles."

The Charmed Ones looked at each other in surprise and Piper finally released her grip on Prue. "She's our what?" The witch asked in shock and disbelief. The newest thought seeming to add even more stress to her.

"The seed of another was in thine mother sister of Time." The figure explained.

"Okay way, way, way, too much information." Phoebe said holding her hands up, as if to ward the unknown woman from saying anything else to them.

"I apologize Sister of Foresight, I meant not to bring forth disturbing images." The figure said with a smile. "I merely wished to speed the introductions along without the need for the confusion that situations like these bring. Particularly after the emotional day that you have had." She said knowingly as she looked the witches over.

"Considering that you know all of this about us I can only guess that your one of the Elders or something similar." Prue noted, as she looked the figure over.

"She is something like that Prue." Azrael said as he finally made himself known to the others.

"Death," Prue greeted somewhat warily. After her close brush with dying, seeing him was really not something that she wanted to be doing right now. It could mean things that she really didn't want to consider, particularly when her sisters were here with her.

"As in _the_ Death." Phoebe asked, as she and Piper looked at the figure that Prue had told them about meeting before.

"One and the same." Prue returned to her sister. "So what's going on Death? Where are we, and who are your friends?"

"Don't worry you really are alive." The figure assured the young woman before him, ignoring how wary she seemed to be at the moment. "Although it was a near thing there until she interfered." He added calmly nodding toward the woman that kept changing her appearance beside him. Prue swallowed at that remark, but kept silent. "Despite the occasion, it is good to see you again. I also think it would work better if you call me Azrael. I'm merely the Angel of Death, the Real Death is actually working his way North from the Southwest right now."

"I'm not sure if that is supposed to be comforting or not." Prue returned to him dryly. The humor seemed to force a grim smile upon each of their faces.

"An interesting companionship you have here Azrael. Who would have thought that the Sister of Might would be a comrade to you of all people?"

"So, who are your friends?" Prue asked, looking to the woman that they had appeared with and the unknown figure that they were saying was responsible for her still being alive.

"This is Paige Matthew your Half-Sister, and this is Hekate of the Titans, the Tri-Goddess and Witch Queen." Azrael explained casually waving toward the pair. "As for where we are, we are in a dimension that is cut off from time and reality while everything is explained to you. We didn't figure that waking up in the room that you died in would be very comforting."

"Good point." Prue conceded to the pair.

"Half-Sister?" Piper squeaked out in disbelief, her mind having ignored the rest as she tried to process that tidbit of information that he had dropped on them.

"Indeed," Azrael returned emotionlessly, "she is the daughter of your mother and of a Whitelighter."

"Huh, guess Piper has more in common with mom than we thought." Phoebe said with a grin.

"Not helping." Piper said, while tossing her younger sister a glare that she was easily ignoring.

"Wait, so I'm related to you guys?" Paige asked, as she looked at the group still trying to understand what was happening around her.

"Indeed Sister of Light." Hekate said. "You like your sisters are the heir to a great and noble bloodline. You are the latest to be claimed by the legendary Warren line. The line of witches and more importantly the Charmed Ones."

"What are you talking about?" Paige asked fearfully.

"Simple child," Hekate returned, "magic both the good and the bad are real, and you are a part of the world in which it exists."

"Yeah, consider us the police of the magical world." Phoebe said with a grin. "It's our job to stop the evil demons from trying to kill people."

"What?" Paige said.

"It will be easier if I show you Sister of Light." Hekate said. "I shall show you the life of your sisters if they are willing that is."

"It would save time." Prue said with a shrug. "Besides, if anyone could do it, it would Hekate. Her records go back to the Carians of Anatolia, she's the Goddess of Crossroads, Entrance-Ways, Fire, Light, the Moon, Magic, Witchcraft, Knowledge of herbs poisonous plants, Necromancy, and Sorcery. She has command over Earth, Sea and Sky. She was one of the main gods worshiped in Athenian households as a protective goddess and one who bestowed prosperity and daily blessings on the family." She said as she rattled off what she remembered of the Goddess from her time working at the auction house and her own research since becoming a witch.

"Cool." Phoebe said.

"Why not." Piper said in agreement. "Having someone explain things to us would have made things easier for us instead of only having the book." She said as she thought of all that she had been forced to learn and all that they had to piece together.

"Then gather around and hold hands." Hekate ordered, the sisters did as they were told.

Paige was somewhat hesitant as she joined the group. "Okay now what, we sing Kumbaya?" Paige snipped at the group.

"Now you watch and learn." Hekate returned, as her hands began glowing the other sisters hands then began glowing as well until they finally started on Paige.

Nothing happened to the pale skinned woman for a moment and then she gasped as a rush of images flooded her mind. The woman watched flashes and snippets of various confrontations with the supernatural happened to the women that claimed to be her sisters and she learned of the life of a witch. She shook her head as she released her grip on the women as if she had been burned and took a fearful step back away from them. "Stay away from me, I don't want any part of what you are." She told them as her eyes darted around looking for a way to get away from the group.

"Unfortunately, that may not be a choice for you anymore young one." Hekate told the woman. "You are a witch and know who and what you are now it is your duty to choose a side of the battle that you now find yourself involved in. However, the rules have changed, the prophecy of the Charmed Ones means no more, and I offer you freedom from the prophecy. However," she said holding her hand up to halt the eager looks that Paige and Piper were sending her. "It comes at a cost. Your powers will be magnified and the beings that you will find yourselves facing will be much greater than any that the others have met. Will you four take the challenge though will you take more power?"

"What kind of power?" Prue questioned cautiously. Having been on the receiving end of some spells, she knew that there was usually a consequence somewhere along the way like getting turned into a dog or something similar.

"Along with your natural magical gifts, you shall also become powerful spell casting champions in your own right." Hekate explained to the four sisters that were all listening to her intently. "In the world of fantasy there are many mighty witches that I shall gift you with the essence and abilities of one each."

"And this will make us better witches?" Phoebe questioned with interest. "Or at least more powerful." She quickly amended.

"Yes sister of might, it shall make you extremely powerful." Hekate assured her.

"Why though?" Piper questioned the Goddess warily. "Why are you offering us all of this power? I can't imagine that you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart or whatever it is that you have." She said this last bit nervously knowing that this figure had saved her sister from death she didn't doubt for a minute that she could put her in a hole in the ground.

"Indeed Sister of Time you are correct." Hekate agreed with the club owner. "I am doing this to help restore order and balance to this realm. Much has been damaged and lost while we Elder Gods have slept. While you're Elders and the Whitelighters have done their duty, there are others that have not been as diligent in their missions to keep humanity moving on the course that it should be, so that this world may survive. Now all of the prophecies that governed this world have been nulled and voided, and new heroes and prophecies take the place of the old. With the loss of the Lions Sage and the Master of Death two important beings have been lost to the wizarding world. With them gone the dark wand wizards known as Death Eaters are gathering amongst themselves again preparing to continue the war that they refuse to give up in. Your American Military has taken an interest in the supernatural and is trying to find a way to force it to bow to its control. Something that could be very dangerous for all sides of the magical communities. You all know the reaction of what could be if the world decides to take notice of the world of magic. Many of the normal mortals who tried their best to fight creatures and that once hunted demons and other supernatural creatures have been lost while there was an increase in demon numbers thanks all of the plans of the late demon Azazel. The rise of Illyria happening about two or three years early and retaining more of its power than expected and is not siding on the side of light has also altered the balance greatly. Even now the Illyria had a tight grip on parts of the wizarding world even if they refuse working together. The destruction of many of the Seals of Hell and the Angels that were supposed to guard them has also weakened this world's position in the light. The breaking of the box that held Lucifer prisoner. The raising of the Four Horsemen who were even now out in the world causing all sorts of terror and destruction to all that they came across. Then there is the breaking of the power of three. The good that you represent is too important to this world to forget."

"But you said yourself that if we accept that the Power of Three will be broken." A rather confused Phoebe pointed out.

"Indeed daughter of Foresight I did." Hekate agreed with the Seer. With all the sisters of the Warren line being alive and aware of their duties though the Power of Three has been disrupted. You would need to have three more lost sibling and create the Power of Seven in order to make your powers right again."

"Right, because 3, 7, and 13 are the numbers of power." Piper said in understanding.

"So a fourth sister actually destabilizes the balance of the Power of Three." Prue noted. Making us as just a regular group of witches instead of the power that we're supposed to be."

"Err sorry?" Paige said to the others nervously.

"Don't worry about it sweetie." Phoebe assured their new sister, wrapping her in a hug.

"Yeah, we'll figure something out." Prue said reassuringly. She turned took at Hekate. "I take it that's part of your plan?"

Indeed it is Sister of Might." Hekate agreed with a smile on her face. "I shall be replacing the Power of Three with a power even stronger than that which has already been broken. With this you will have an all new power within yourselves to call upon."

"Powerful enough to take on Shax?" Prue pressed. "What?" She asked looking at her sisters, whom were staring at her in disbelief. "I owe him for killing me and our innocent." She said defensively. "Not to mention that was a cheap shot that he hit me with to start with as well." She grumbled, as she thought of the demon that had managed to hit her. "If I hadn't pushed the innocent out of the way he never would have managed to get that close anyways."

"Uh, uh Prue, you are not going up against Shax again." Piper argued with her sister, crossing her arms and glaring at her older sister stubbornly. "Besides, you know as well as I do that more power means more danger, and we have enough of that as it is. There is no need for us to get involved in this."

"Piper has a point Prue, I mean come on, think about what just happened." Phoebe said as she tried to coax her sister away from the offer.

"And the next time Shax comes around and decides to take us or someone we're protecting out?" Prue returned to her sisters. "Face it, whether we like it or not we'll need the power if for no other reason than to meet what's coming. Also without the Power of Three there are going to be a lot of demons out there looking for some payback for everything that we've done." She pointed out to the others.

"She kind of has a point." Paige said nervously, a little unsure if she should be entering the conversation or not. "I mean if there are things out there that coming after you with a lot more power wouldn't it make sense to be ready for them by having the power needed to take them on?"

"At least someone has been paying attention." Prue said with a triumphant smirk. "Come on, whether you like it or not we need this."

"I don't know." Piper said still looking unconvinced that this was really the path that they needed to be taking. I mean this could be our chance to finally take a step back and live our lives without always having to worry about demons every day."

"Even if it keeps us all safe?" Paige asked curiously. "I mean I really don't want whatever power it is that you're suggesting, she informed the Goddess, "but I'll take it if it means that I stay alive. I mean you guys may all be ass kicking witches, but I'm only a caseworker waiting on a promotion."

"Yeah and I'm a Club Owner, Prue's a photographer, and Phoebe's a college student." Piper returned to the newest member of their messed up family. "You really think careers like that really help in learning how to fight the demonic? I mean when Prue worked at the Auction House her knowledge of art came in handy from time to time, and allowed us to identify a few old pieces of work or such things. My skills in the kitchen help with the creating of various potions. And Phoebe good at research. Other than we got nothing in the way of training in this at all." She explained to Paige.

"Really?" Paige said in disbelief. "You mean you've been somehow faking all of this for the past few years?" she asked somewhat in disbelief at the admission that their sister was giving her. I thought that you had to have some sort of training though."

"Yeah we have done this by the skin of our teeth. Piper returned glad that she was making the younger woman understand somewhat how dangerous this really was. "And it hasn't always been easy."

"Ah, before we get too much farther into this, what kind of power are you talking about?" Phoebe asked the Goddess, as she reminded the group of the topic of the conversation.

Hekate nodded her head in appreciation. "I offer you the power of witches of great power." She said as an image hovered over each of the sisters. "Mortals have dreamed up witches to be extremely powerful and I would offer you the same chance to this power. It will prepare you for anything that comes your way."

"Comic book characters?" Piper said looking unconvinced as she recognized some of the images. "You want to turn us into comic book character witches? That's your big plan to give us extra power?"

"Despite your personal dislike, the power contained within these characters is great enough that it will allow you to battle many of your enemies on your own and only the most powerful will ever be capable of facing you again." Hekate reprimanded Piper.

"This sounds like a really stupid idea." Piper said. "I mean seriously comic book characters?" She demanded of the others. "What next, comic book style villains start coming after us?" She demanded. "When does the craziness end?"

"You saw what happened to us before." Prue returned. "If we followed the path that destiny had for us I'm dead and the rest of you get scattered until something brings you together." Prue reminded her sister. "What's going to stop the next demon from doing something like that to the rest of you?"

"Sounds like all the more reason to be ready for whatever evil demons or magic users throw at you then." Paige returned. "I don't like it, and think I'm already in way over my head, but I'm in if you guys are." She said determinedly.

"Alright, if it means we stay alive I'm in as well." Phoebe said finally.

The others all turned to look at Piper who did not appear to be the least bit happy with the consensus that her sisters had come to. "Fine, but I still think it's a dumb idea." She finally said crossing her arms and huffing in annoyance at what her sisters were dragging her into now. Her agreement caused the others to sigh with relief.

"Gather around then daughters." Hekate ordered, waving her hands and four glowing circles appeared with her in there center. The sisters quickly each took a position and clasped hands as they waited for the Goddess to make her next move.

_"By the North, South, East, and West I call the elements four._

To grant the power of new armaments for the coming war.

I summon the elements five to stand witness.

Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Metal answer the call of your Mistress.

The days of Old need new Champions to defend.

Bring forth those that the world has thought pretend.

The sisters four stand ready.

The witches four shall keep the world steady.

For the sister of Might.

The witch full of fight.

I call forth the essence of Zatanna.

With strength as mighty as the savanna.

For the Sister of Time.

The witch that shall move forward and climb.

I call forth the essence of the Scarlet Witch.

The one with the power to bewitch.

For the Sister of Foresight.

The witch who bound the sisters tight.

I call forth the essence of Magik.

The witch that lived a life so tragic.

For the Sister Light.

Who has the hidden power to smite.

I call forth the essence of Daytripper.

Whom has the speed of a clipper.

Gift these sisters of the night.

With the power of this rite."

As the spell finished each of the disks surged with power, covering each of the sisters as light rose up and blinded each of them from view. When the light faded each of them was in a different outfit. Prue was dressed as a sexy stage magician who wore tights instead of pants. Piper was wearing a light pink bodysuit while a dark red leather one piece bathing suit body armor with matching boots gloves headband and a cloak. Phoebe's clothes had changed into a black a yellow body suit with a yellow skirt over it. In her hand she held a sword made of some sort of silver metal the silver also seemed to encase the arm holding the blade all the way up to her shoulder. Finally Paige was wearing form fitting bright red bodysuit with silver markings around all of her curves and a light blue cloak.

"Well this is new and interesting." Phoebe said as she examined her clothes. Usually when they got power ups things like their clothes remained the same.

"New and interesting?" Piper huffed at her sister. "We look like we belong up on a table with a pole. How are we supposed to fight in this?" She asked Hekate.

"Simple little witch, if you feel you cannot then change it." Hekate returned to the witch in her echoing voice. "You have the power to do so now."

"But what about the rules about personal gain?" Piper questioned worriedly.

"Is it persona gain when you are fixing your clothes so that you can fight without turning as red as your costumes?" The Witch Queen questioned curiously. "Within you all is the knowledge of how to use your powers both the old and the new."

Prue nodded as she looked her own outfit over. She waved her hands over her legs. "Eganhc Sehtolc!" She said and they watched her high heels turn into boots and the swimsuit bottom lengthen to leather pants. "Much better." Prue said, as she looked her altered outfit over. "And can I say that is such a cool way to do magic." She added.

"How come you always get all the really cool powers?" Phoebe questioned with slight jealousy. "I mean I've never even heard of Magik before." She grumbled as she looked herself over.

Swallowing Piper waved her arms over her own legs and a skirt seemed to sprout out and cover her legs and her top changed to include a white shirt with the red armor on over it while the pink bodysuit disappeared. Leaving Piper with more of a female pirate or gypsy look than the super heroine one that Hekate had tried.

"What about you two?" Piper wondered looking at her sisters.

"Well ours aren't quiet as revealing as yours were." Phoebe mocked. "So I think I'm okay for the moment. I mean ours at least cover us."

"Rub it in." Piper grumbled back in annoyance.

"Oh trust me I will." Phoebe said in her eyes bright with amusement at the discomfort her older sisters were in over their first outfits. The new uniforms were much more practical for demon fighting than the skimpy bathing suits they had been wearing.

Paige grinned at the group. "She has a point, I mean at least now you don't have to worry about getting a wedgie anymore." The older two sisters huffed at their younger siblings who snickered at the memory.

"Too bad there wasn't any cameras handy I'm sure Leo would have loved to see you dressed like that." Phoebe added in suggestively. This caused Piper's cheeks to turn red.

"Now that we got the power, now what though?" Paige asked nervously turning to look at Prue who seemed to be the one that made a lot of the decisions.

"Now we go and find Shax." Prue informed her a dangerous glint in her eye.

"Oh no you don't, you are not going to chase after Shax just because he got a lucky shot in at you." Piper said defiantly while glaring at her older sister in annoyance. "That is the dumbest hair balled scheme that you've ever had, and considering some of the plans that you've come up with that's saying an awful lot." She said hotly. "We just got you back after we thought you died Prue, we're not about to lose you so that you can prove who the bigger badass is to some demon looking to put another notch in his belt with your life." She said while poking her sister in the chest.

"Oh come on, I owe him for throwing us through that wall." Prue argued, as she remembered the large demon that had done what so many others had tried to do. The fact that he hadn't been even coming after her made it all the more annoying. "There's no way that I'm going to let that stand." She grumbled. "Besides, if I hadn't taken the shot for the innocent then I so would have kicked his ass."

"Does anyone remember what happened to our innocent by the way?" Phoebe questioned the others curiously.

The other two older witches looked slightly embarrassed at this as they realized that they had forgotten the man somewhat with everything else that was going on. Dying, getting transported to a pocket dimension, talking Azrael, meeting Hekate, meeting a half-sister that they didn't know that they had, getting more powers. When you added it altogether it was all rather overwhelming when you got right down to it. With all of that, it was rather unsurprising that they had forgotten about the man that they were supposed to be saving.

"Azarael?" Prue asked curiously. "Did he manage to escape or is he dead?"

"He's dead Prue, and no I won't be bringing him back either. Azrael said stopping her from making the request. "It was a big enough deal that they made me stop from collecting you, don't expect the same sort of favoritism to be shown to the people you failed to save."

"Yet another reason for us to take Shax out." Prue said to her sisters triumphantly. "We can't allow him to continue wandering around like that." The others rolled their eyes at the single mindedness of Prue and her willingness to get some pay back.

"Hunting a demon for vengeance is a dangerous road to travel." Hekate warned the witch. Hunters have lost their very selves by doing such things. You chance losing yourself in the very shadows that you wish to destroy. Learn from those like John Winchester, and you will find that sometimes the road of vengeance is not the best road in this business. Besides, while Shax is indeed a threat, he is not the primary danger right now." Hekate informed the women. "The Source always has been, and always will be your enemy. He and the Triad must be stopped before you can move on in your lives and take up your new positions in the world. It is also the destiny of another to do battle with Shax and those that are like him."

"The Triad?" Paige asked a little unsure. The information download was helpful, but there were still things she had to learn.

"The real power behind the throne of the underworld." Phoebe explained to her sister. "Technically they work for The Source, but they also are the ones that do a lot of his dirty work such as assign demons to kill certain people. At least that's the way Cole explained it. The Source may give the orders, but the Triad are the ones that tell the demons what they can and can't do and even how to do it. They're also kind of considered to be the demon equivalent to the Charmed Ones. But I thought that Cole had killed the Triad, and that's why all the demons had put a bounty on his head."

"Your lover did indeed manage to kill the bodies of the Triad Sister of Foresight, however the Triad are too powerful for even a demon of Belthazor's power could destroy them as easily as that." Hekate told the witch. They merely had to send their essence into the bodies of three other demons and they were reborn without any consequences. While they are somewhat weakened which is why they have not been seen but in time their full strength will return. Your lover's kill order has more to do with the betrayal than anything else."

"Great." Phoebe said with a scowl, as she realized that despite all that he had sacrificed, Cole had accomplished very little in the grand scheme of things. She did wonder if he had known any of this when he had attacked the Triad, or if he really had believed that he had killed them.

"So what, we need to get back and figure out how to take on the Triad?" Paige asked curiously.

"That is it indeed Sister of Light." Hekate returned.

"Do you have any other things for us to worry about?" Piper asked as she looked toward Hekate curiously afraid that the Goddess would have more tasks for them to fulfill now that they had accepted the power that she had offered to them.

"No, just know that you are taking a step into a much more powerful and dangerous world now that you have accepted the role as my champions." Hekate informed the sisters while staring at them all as if judging their reactions to what was to come.

"Right, lets go and deal with this Triad then so that we can figure out just what it means to be superheroes then." Paige said.

"So who wants to do the honors?" Prue asked curiously. "We can all teleport now can't we?

"Not all of us." Piper said with a scowl.

"Eh you've married your transportation." Phoebe said dismissively. "Besides it finally means that I have some skills that at least one of you doesn't." She added happily. Although it's still unfair that Prue can do just about anything I can do." She grumbled slightly annoyed that Prue had so much power still. It was the one bone of contention that she had about their skills. It seemed that her sisters got all of the cool powers no matter what. She then waved her hands and the group found themselves on one of her stepping discs. A moment later the four sister witches disappeared from the strange dimension where they had received their new chances at life and destiny.

"Do you think that they'll be able to go up against the upcoming challenges that they will now be forced to live through?" Azarael questioned the Goddess. "While I do not doubt their power or abilities, they are still going to be facing extremely powerful foes. Foes who have had decades at the least to prefect their methods of destruction." He reminded the Goddess.

"Unfortunately there is only so much that we can do to help them." Hekate returned to him. "I have done all that I am allowed to. The next move must be theirs and theirs alone. All that we can do now is watch and hope that the choices that they make are good ones. Thanks to other beings who were supposed to watch this dimension we are having to do all that we can to repair this world. To do so much must be lost even as much is gained. We can only hope that the scales will agree in the end that we are creating heroes that will be good for all when this world faces its own judgment."

The two beings stared at each other for a moment before they disappeared to watch what would happen next as the way things went could change everything that happened from now on if the sisters survived this task then there would be more missions for them if they failed though then the world would have lost some of its greatest magical champions. To save the life of a Charmed One, they had to risk the lives of all of the members of the prophesied sisters. Now they would have to see if their gambit had paid off.

* * *

The witches grimaced a bit as they stepped out of the disc and saw all the damage that their earlier fight had caused to the manor house. The place looked exactly like the war zone that it had been earlier. The wall where Prue and Piper had been thrown through, was barely even standing up, their innocent was lying halfway out of the window with glass impaling his body, and the glass on the front doors had also been shattered. The trail of destruction that Shax had left was enough to make anyone stop and take note. The dead body really added to the destruction.

"Leo." Piper said in relief as she ran up to her husband who was still in a kneeling position.

"Piper," Leo said in surprise as he turned to see his wife rushing up to him. Which was hard to believe since she had just been right beside him a moment ago holding Prue. He held his wife in a comforting way, her clothes were a little odd but he wasn't going to question that at the moment. He was patting her back in a soothing and comforting way doing his best to ignore the fact that he had failed one of his charges. It was as he was doing this when noticed the group that was standing behind his wife. "Prue?" He said in disbelief, as he looked at the young woman dressed in black stage magician's outfit. Alongside of her he saw Phoebe carrying a sword with armor on one arm that traveled up the shoulder and ended on one breast, and an unknown woman wearing some sort of skintight outfit with a cloak. He could practically feel the power leaking off of the entire group. It was so much greater than what the sisters had before. It was actually what he expected them to feel like ten years from now.

"Prue." He said, as he released his wife before he grasped his sister-in-law in a tight bear hug. "I'm so sorry Prue, it's just when I saw you both like that I panicked and had to heal Piper first I wasn't trying to be selfish."

"It's alright Leo." Prue assured him as she hesitantly patted him on the back. "You did what you thought you had to do. Besides you probably thought that using your love for Piper would let you use your powers faster." She rationalized for the Whitelighter. "Besides it all turned out alright."

"How are you alive though?" Leo asked desperately. "I know that I saw and felt you die." He said his eyes darting to where he had last seen the witch when his healing powers simply hadn't been enough to help her. "You all feel so different than how you used to, it's kind of worrying." He admitted, hoping that Piper and Phoebe hadn't messed around with magic's that were better off left alone with the loss of their sister. He knew that it was possible though when you considered everything that the sisters had risked for each other. If that was the case then things could get out of hand very quickly.

Prue smirked at him as she slipped out of his grasp and swung him at his wife. "Piper, take your husband and explain everything that's happened to him I'm sure that there are a lot of things that he needs to know about."

"What, but shouldn't I be helping you guys?" Piper asked not sure she trusted the others not to try something crazy.

"I'm sure that you'll be able to explain it all to him. After all it's only Paige, Azrael, Hekate, and the new powers we now have." Prue said casually. While that's happening Phoebe I want you to find Cole and get him here. She ordered the witch nodded before she disappeared onto a stepping disk.

"Hekate," Leo said in awe, "as in the Patron Queen of the Witches?"

"Yep one in the same buster, now sit yourself down so that we can talk." Piper ordered. Leo complied with the order, and he was regaled with the tale of the last half hour that the witches had experienced starting with Prue's death, how they now had powers based on comic book characters, and how they now planned on taking out the Triad for good.

"So you're saying that all you were wearing was that bathing suit and a bodysuit?" Leo asked with a knowing grin his eyes glazing over slightly at the thought.

"Yes and if you behave I may even show you how it looks." Piper promised him with a mischievous grin. "But only if you promise not tell Phoebe that I did that." She added sternly.

Leo nodded before he began going over the more important things that his wife had told him about. "With Paige a part of the group now your power has jumped by several times." He noted to her. "Spells that require the four elements will be easier than ever and spells that require a trinity may not be as taxing on your abilities either. I would have thought that the Power of Three would have been destroyed with their being four sisters of the Warren Line at the same time though. If Prue had died and stayed dead you power would have been greatly decreased unless you had managed to find Paige and gotten her to activate her powers. I'm guessing that it's only because of your deal that you're still the powerhouses that you are." He theorized to his wife.

"Yeah about that, are you saying that nobody even knew about Paige?" Piper asked suspiciously. "I can't imagine that something like that would have gone unnoticed."

"I never knew about it and I'm supposed to be the Whitelighter for your entire group." Leo informed her. "To find out that there was another one of you is rather surprising. I suppose that we could ask the Elders or your mom." He said thoughtfully. "It's likely that they hid her away and bound her powers though so that the prophecy wouldn't become broken with her birth."

"So you're saying that they broke up our family just so we would fit their idea of a prophecy family?" Piper asked in annoyance.

"It's possible." Leo admitted uncomfortably, not liking the dark look his wife was shooting at him right now.

"So have you got him caught up yet?" Prue asked curiously, as she stuck her head into the room saving the Whitelighter from the wrath that his wife.

"Yeah she has." Leo said in relief as he got up and gave Prue another relieved hug. He then smiled a greeting at Paige as she walked hesitantly into the room. "It's good to meet you." He said as he offered her a hand which she gladly accepted. The group paused as Cole and Phoebe shimmered into view.

"Prue." Cole said with a relieved smile. "You're looking pretty good for someone that's supposed to be dead. Shax has been crowing all over the Underworld that he managed to take out the Charmed Ones."

"It didn't stick." Prue returned with a shrug. She knew her sister loved the demon, but there were times she still had trouble trusting him. Considering all of the times that he had tried to kill them she thought that she was doing rather well for the most part.

"I can see that. Phoebe explained things to me, and says that you want to make sure that being dead sticks for a bit longer with the Triad." Cole looked questioning at Prue whom merely nodded her head in agreement with that. "Which let me tell you really ticks me off as a former professional assassin. When I put someone down I like for them to stay down not get back up. Particularly when I have a bounty on my head for killing them." He looked somewhat disgruntled at that.

"Can you get us into their old base of operations?" Prue asked.

"Yeah I can do that easy." Cole said with a shrug.

"Good, as soon as we're ready then we're going to take the fight to them." The witch told them.

"I should go and talk to the Elders and see what it is that they think of all of this." Leo said nervously.

"You're right you should." Prue agreed. "With Hekate being back, we need to know if there is anything that we need to worry about. I would hate to find out we got tricked somehow. Particularly when things are actually going good for a change."

You can also see if you can find out about how Paige came to be without anyone knowing about her either. Piper shot at him. Leo nodded his understanding of the order as he disappeared into several balls of light that traveled upwards.

"Alright Cole, can you get us to the Underworld? Base then then?" Prue requested.

"I already told you I could." The former lawyer said cockily. "Gather everyone who is going and grab onto my hands this could be bumpy ride." The witches all gathered around and shimmered away. They reappeared within a large cavern like tunnel. "Home sweet home." Cole said mockingly. "Course now that I'm down here I might as well have sent a magical pulse out asking all of the bounty hunters to come and find me." He added, while looking at the sisters hopefully. "So I really hope that you know what it is that you're doing, or this is going to be a very short visit."

"I second that hope." Paige said uncomfortably, as she looked around the Underworld as if expecting something to come charging out at them any minute.

"We have maybe ten minutes before demons start popping up as an army." Cole warned, as he fired an energy ball at a demon that shimmered into view. "If you really want to do this, then we need to get started on it now."

"Then we better get going." Prue said as she took the lead and headed down the hallway.

"Is she always like this?" Paige questioned the others in disbelief as she watched the determined stride of her oldest sister. The woman seemed capable of taking charge and getting the job done in ways that she couldn't even imagine doing. It was somewhat daunting to see actually.

"Pretty much." Phoebe said, as they fell into step. "Personally I think it's just her showing off, but that's just my personal opinion on the matter." She said teasingly.

"Well if I didn't do it then who would there be to show you the correct way to do it?" Prue shot over her shoulder.

"Well there's Piper, and now there's Paige, and it might be okay to let me win sometimes." Phoebe said.

Paige could only stare as the pair fell into a well-practiced teasing routine.

"Don't worry, most of its just to calm each other down." Piper assured the new member of their team. "The two of them aren't really as calm as they like to pretend, and once they get a little closer they'll stop seeming so casual until then deal with their games soon enough they'll be all business. There are times Prue does this though. Usually once she gets on one of her I am the biggest, baddest, witch-bitch around so back off phases. Which means she's having fun with the new powers that Hekate gave her."

"So why do you need me if you have Prue the super witch over there?" Paige questioned doubtfully. "I mean it seems that as long as you have Prue around there's nothing that you guys can't do, I'd just be an extra wheel as far as I can tell."

"Don't worry you'll do fine." Piper assured her while giving her a one armed hug. Besides there are still plenty of times that Prue screams like a little girl. She assured her sister.

"Yeah, and if nothing else you can always help me puncture her ego a little bit." Phoebe said with a mischievous grin causing Paige to smile at her in return. "You know I think I could like having a sister around it would mean no more being the youngest." She said speculatively.

"You'll always be the baby to me Phoebes." Prue shot off without hesitation, causing the others to smile in amusement at the pair.

The humor of the group died as they stepped into a darkened chamber. As they entered several torches lit up. "I see our deception no longer works." A voice said as three robed figures appeared standing around a circle of light. "Welcome back Belthazar, I see that you intend to make our betrayal even greater by leading the witches here." The Triad Member said.

"The Chosen Champions of Hekate demanded it." Cole returned.

"Hekate has returned?" One of the three said not looking very happy upon that announcement. "How can this be? The balance here has been maintained." He demanded of the group.

"Maybe here, but you know as well as I do that in other places that is not the case." Cole returned to the demon. He looked behind them and saw several demons were striding toward them. "I think that you guys can handle these three, I'm going to go and deal with some very annoying old friends that I've been forced to run from for the past few weeks." The four sisters nodded in acceptance as he turned to face the ones that had been hunting him even as he formed an energy ball in either of his hands.

"Huh, looks like we have our very own Jason Blood." Phoebe said with a grin as she watched him draw an energy ball into each hand.

"Late Phoebe, we have some demons of our own to kill." Prue ordered. "You can admire your boyfriend and his work later."

"Not without me being here." A voice said as a figure in a black appeared out of a ball of fire.

"Who is that?" Paige asked worriedly, even as she tightened her grip on the edge of her cloak.

"The Source." Piper said grimly.

"The Source?" Paige questioned.

"Yeah, the head honcho of the demon world." Phoebe said in faux bravery as she watched the figure warily. The demon overlord could see this as a chance to watch them fight, or he could join in on the fighting. It all depended on how he was feeling at the moment.

"So you are the descendants of the Warren line." The Source said as he examined the witches. "I must say, you hardly look like the kind of threat that I was expecting."

"We'll just have to see if we can't make you believe we're dangerous then." Prue said as she drew a long thin staff out of her sleeve that looked just like a giant magician's wand. "Tsalb Citsym!" She incanted, and a bolt of raw energy rushed at The Source.

The Source raised his hand and deflected the beam away from him. "It will take more than a simple increase in power to stop me Prudence Halliwell." The demon mocked.

"Then let's get started." Prue said, as she made a swatting motion with her hand which sent The Source flying into one of the far walls.

"Okay, while Prue keeps him busy I guess we have to deal with these guys." Piper said as she looked at the members of the Triad as they glared at them. Their plan was already falling apart before it had even begun. The idea had been to have Paige act as backup while the rest of them did their best to fight the Triad Members. With this being Paige's first battle they wanted to give her a chance to learn. That plan only worked when they had their opponents outnumbered though. With the addition of The Source it made things a lot harder.

"So all we gotta do now is beat the Triad, then beat The Source, and then beat whatever demons that get past Cole. All the while somehow staying alive." Paige said faintly. "Is there any way to get out of this crazy family business?" She pleaded of the other two.

"Believe me, we've tried." Piper said to the younger witch. "No matter what, they just seem to keep coming. Seems that the only way to stop them is to vanquish them."

"Then let's try and get this done." Paige said as she raised her hand and fired a bolt of mystic energy at one of the robed figures.

The Triad member merely sneered as he deflected the bolt to the side. "It will take more than a beginner such as yourself to take on one such as myself witch." He jeered at her. "I have been doing this for longer than you have been alive witch. It will take more than basic knowledge of the mystic arts to deal with ones such as ourselves."

"Then I guess I'll just have to try harder." Paige said, as she felt her power dig deep into the earth and then fling the energy at the demon. Snarling the demon flung his own energy at the witch and the two found their power meeting between them and they tried to push against each other and over power each other. Paige did her best not to scream, as she felt herself slowly but surely losing the fight between herself and the Triad member. She really hoped that the others could find some way to win because as it was she didn't think that she was going to last much longer if it kept up at like this. As the blast threatened to overwhelm her she disappeared in a sparkle of lights that looked just like orbing and reappeared on the other side of the room. "Whoa, that was weird." Paige said before she fired another blast at the Triad member.

The demon didn't even looked worried as he brought a shield up to stop her attack and then began firing a series of blasts back at her. The surprise of her orbing not having bought her more than a moment of relief from his own attacks.

Magical binding flew from her hands and tried to capture the demon, but he seemed to easily block the attempt with one hand and fired another attack with his other hand. Paige orbed away again this time appearing a few feet away from the demon and two the left.

The Triad member began fling energy balls at the witch only for her to move a few feet off in a slow circle as the two exchanged fire with each other. Neither of them seemed to be capable of winning, as Paige could not seem to manage to stop the more experienced demon, and whenever Paige was trapped she would disappear in a swirl of lights reappearing somewhere off to the side. The two would then begin to exchange fire with each other once again, and the process would repeat itself. The demon stopping her attacks and her being forced to orb away before she got hit.

"Enough of this!" The annoyed Triad Member hollered at her. "Stop running and face me witch." He demanded, tired of being forced to try and keep following after its young and inexperienced opponent.

"Hey, you're the one that going on about how I wasn't old enough to be a challenge to someone like you." Paige returned in her defense. "If it's so beneath you to fight me then why is it taking you so long to deal with me?" She questioned curiously with a mocking grin at the Triad Member. "Maybe I'm not doing nearly as bad as I thought I was." She said thoughtfully sounding somewhat relieved. "Then again, I'm amazed to still be alive as it is." She explained to the demon.

"You think that you can stop me girl?" The Triad Demon demanded angrily. "I have been around for ages, and seen overconfident upstart witches like yourself fall countless times. One like you is not going to be the end of me, Charmed One or not." It declared at Paige.

"We'll just have to see about that." Paige returned, as she fired more magical bursts at the demon. She was determined that even if she couldn't stop him, that she was going to slow him down. The demon growled, as he made a gesture and several daggers suddenly appeared and flung themselves at her.

Paige waved her hands at the blades. "Knives." She squeaked out, not sure why she was calling at the blades. The weapons were orbed away and appeared beside her, but facing toward the demon where they restarted their forward momentum. The demon waved its hand and the blades disappeared as quickly as they had come at him,

"Not bad witch you have a lot of raw potential, it's a shame that you've already chosen a side. You would have done well on our side." The Triad member noted causally as he flung another energy ball at Paige.

Paige grimaced as she realized that despite everything that she was doing she wasn't causing him any real damage since he was countering everything that she threw at him. She hoped that the others were having more luck than she was. She figured the longer this went on, the more likely it was that he was going to kill her.

* * *

Phoebe looked at her opponent, the enchanted sword that Hekate had given her in her hand. A part of her was beginning to wonder if she had been a bit too hasty in agreeing to come after the Triad. True she had been a bit pissed though, what with Prue having been killed and she really wanted some payback if not for that then about a dozen other things that the Triad had been responsible for over the past few years. The fact that taking them out would break some of the control that The Source had over the other demons was another plus and would make it easier for her to have a relationship with Cole made it all even more appeasing. At least it had when she was safe at the manor, instead of being down here where she was having to fight off a member of the Triad on her own.

Like the other members of the Triad he was dressed in a brown robe. In either hand he held an energy orb. He began throwing the orbs at her and the witch squeaked in fear as she bobbed and weaved around the assault that was being thrown at her. This was why she hated the fact that Prue and Piper always seemed to get all of the cool powers, and with her luck Paige was also going to get some super cool ability leaving her with her current abilities. At least with Hekate, her powers had become somewhat more impressive. She was left with, many of the less offensive ones. It left her rather jealous at times of the power and abilities that her sisters had. The time that she and Prue had switched powers had been one of the cooler moments in her witch career. She was broken out of her musings though as another attack came at her. She screamed as two orbs came at her and she raised one of her arms up. The incoming orbs splashed harmlessly against her armor.

Phoebe was shocked and the Triad member seemed somewhat startled as well as he realized that the attack had done nothing to her. "Finally I have a decent power." She cheered as she realized what this meant.

"You forget witch, that your armor only covers a part of your body." The Triad member snarled out as he resumed firing at Phoebe.

Phoebe grimaced as she realized that he was right. Her armor only covered her arm shoulder and part of her chest. The rest of her body was unprotected and she didn't know if she could do anything else with the armor, and right now was probably not the best time to find out what it was that she could and couldn't do. She yelped in fear as another energy ball passed close to her face. The demon smirked at her and released another pair of energy balls at the witch.

Phoebe swallowed nervously as she realized that he had spaced the energy balls so that if she dodged or blocked one she would have to take a hit from the other. She leaped into the air and her body lifted high above where the attack had been. Phoebe then landed back on the ground. Sometimes having the power of levitation really helped in fights like these.

"Not bad reflexes." The Triad member said grudgingly. "Who would have thought that the weakling Charmed One would actually has some sort of skill in fighting." The demon said mockingly. "Considering your usual weak showing in battle, I'm rather surprised that you can do anything, since you usually rely on your sisters to do all of the real work while you cower behind them and shout useless advice. All the while trying to make it seem as if you're the strong one of the group. When everyone knows that you're really the weak one."

"Are you really going to use the things that I don't think about every day to try and make me scared of you?" Phoebe questioned him unworriedly. "I may not have the raw power that the others have, but I'm more than capable of kicking your ass all over the place." Phoebe retorted cockily as she smirked at him confidently, unwillingly to let him get to her. The demon responded by firing more energy ball at her. Phoebe created a stepping disk and disappeared reappearing behind the demon and stab at him. "Besides, thanks to a few new tricks, I think that the gap is a lot different than you'd really like to believe." She added in smugly as she moved out of range of his hands.

The demon shrieked as he felt the blade enter his side. He held his side where he had been stabbed. Growling the demon released his side and summoned a large energy ball and flung it at Phoebe. He then followed that up by aiming high with a scattering of small energy balls trapping her in a small area.

Phoebe raised her sword and swung her sword, her eyes closed anticipating the pain that was sure to follow. When nothing happened she opened her eyes to see that the energy ball had dissipated after being sliced though. Phoebe grinned at this has she gestured for the demon to keep trying.

Snarling the Triad member began flinging energy balls as fast as he could summon them. He watched in disbelief as the weakest member of the group danced around the attacks or they were brushed to the side by the armor and the sword that she was using. This was not the way that this fight should be going.

* * *

Piper didn't know how she had gotten caught up in this, but she was really wishing that she hadn't allowed the others to talk her into this. One of these days she was going to have to learn to put her foot down and tell them no instead of delaying them from doing whatever crazy stunt or idea that they thought that they should do this time around. Grams was depending on her to make them think their actions through. That she was currently in a one on one fight with a member of the Triad was ridiculous though, and made her think that she hadn't done as Gram's wanted her to. These guys were amongst the top ranks as far as demons went and were not demons that they should be picking fights with. What was surprising to her though, was that currently they were somehow at a stalemate with their powers. She waved her hand at the Triad Member in front of her and the ground beneath him cracked unexpectedly causing his aim to go off and into the ceiling.

"Curse you witch!" The Triad Member grumbled as he fired another blast. Every time he lined a shot up it seemed as if something happened that caused his aim to go off or she would dodge or shield against the ones that did get through. Piper Halliwell while powerful, was not supposed to be as skilled in fighting as this. She was showing a skill that she had not shown before, and it was becoming most annoying. She was also supposed to control time not luck yet somehow she was doing exactly that. A power like that could be extremely useful if they could end it to darkness. Only someone with conjuring or projection powers might be able to easily beat this luck power. It would seem that their spies had not been able to tell the true skills and abilities of the sisters if they were being slowed down like this. He waved his hands and muttered a spell and several stones began rolling at the witch.

Piper shot her hands forward and watched as the various stones froze as she stepped out of the way before letting the rocks resume their fall to slam where she had been a moment ago. Following this she attacked causing several explosions to appear on the hide of the Triad Member who stumbled back under the assault that he was being hit with.

"I shall not fall to you." The Triad member growled as he muttered another new spell and lightning shot from his hand.

Piper raised her hands and an energy shield appeared in front of her, and caused the attack to splash harmlessly against the shield that she had somehow created. She returned with her own blast which lifted the Triad member up and off his feet and to slam into the wall. Piper followed that up with another gesture toward the demon.

The Triad Member climbed to his feet only to trip and fall again though as its robes somehow tangled up and forced him back down to his knees. "Your little annoyances are becoming tiring witch." He said as he gestured again and a blast of flames seemed to rush at her. Piper responded by waving her hands and the rocks that had been aimed at her earlier came tumbling back and intercepted the attack and struck him with several boulders that the demon had to blast to keep the larger ones from hitting him. "You may have power and potential witch, but even you can't keep this up for long. Everyone knows that you're the least dedicated to the fight. Of all the Charmed Ones you would be the one most likely to return to the life of a simple unknowing mortal if it was at all possible."

"Yeah but it isn't so I'll just have to settle for this." Piper responded as she fired another hex bolt.

The Triad member fired his own energy ball and the two attacks exploded against each other. "Think about it witch, we could offer you that. Then all these battles would be over we could just reset time and as long as you stopped your sister from awakening your powers you would be safe from all of this. I'm sure I could convince Tempest to do such a thing if you were willing." He confided, as he shimmered away and reappeared next to Piper with a drawn Athame in his hand. He swung the blade at her in an overhead strike meaning to take her in the chest.

Piper held her hand up and froze the Triad member she saw that despite her having frozen him he was already trying to break free as his body was still moving slowly. His current speed gave her the time to step back and punch the demon in the face. As soon as her fist hit him, he returned to the regular flow of time and was sent flying back. She followed that up with several more blasts at the demon.

* * *

An extremely angry Prue Halliwell was trading energy blasts with The Source. The Demon Lord was extremely powerful and Prue knew that if she had been in her right mind she would have tried to avoid getting to close to him, but at the moment she was simply to pissed to care about such trivial things. She was holding it together for the most part right now, but there was a part of her that was wanting to kill this demon for setting Shax on them. Since said demon wasn't around she would take her aggravation out on him. "Kcolb Eci!" She incanted and a block of ice began forming around The Source. "Thanks to you, I've already lost several people that I care for." She snarled as her mind flashed to all of the various people that she had lost to the fight against the supernatural. Her Mom, Grams, and Andy being the most important ones. There were others though that also filled that list. Ones that she couldn't save or had run away because they couldn't deal with things.

"I don't think so witch." The Source said as a ring of fire appeared around him, and melted the ice before it could capture him. "I see that you have gained much strength since last I heard of you Prudence Halliwell. Death obviously agreed with you and made you stronger somehow. It shall make my destroying of you all the greater. Now you are actually worth my time and I can use true power to deal with the nuisance that you and your sister are." He launched a fiery energy ball at Prue.

Prue responded by using her telekinesis to bat the incoming attack away from her not even seeming to notice as it crashed into a nearby wall. "I'm tired of you threatening my family for whatever crazy power trip you're on." She growled, as she fired another blast of magic at the demon.

The Source held his hand up and caught the blast of magic. He then flung it back at her, forcing Prue to duck the attack. He followed that up with a lightning ball and a fire ball from either hand.

"Llaw htrae!" Prue called out and a wall of ground rose up and blocked the attacks from hitting her.

The Source angry at the witch actually holding her own waved his hands and the protective wall vanished from sight. Prue was waiting for him though and several athames exploded out of the bottom of her hat which was pointed at him. A metal shield appeared and deflected the blades before rushing at Prue.

The witch was surprised by the attack and was slammed away as the shield caught her in the chest. A beam of energy came surging at her next. "Latrop," the witch incanted letting the beam travel into her hat and them come back at the demon from another portal that opened up over her shoulder and slammed into The Source.

The demon growled as he stopped firing, and the attack dissipated. Muttering for a moment, he then turned ground around them into mud. "That should slow some of your dodging down." He said confidently, as the heavy mud made it difficult for the witch to move around now.

Prue scowled as she waved her hands again. "Sniahc nori!" She called out and several heavy chains appeared and began to wrap around The Source.

The Source allowed them to wrap around it and then with a heave of its muscles it shattered the bindings then using its telekinesis it flung the remains at Prue.

"Hsinav!" Prue said causing the chains to wink out of existence before they could hit her, she then placed her hands on the ground. "Yrd!" Causing the ground to harden again.

"You're a powerful little witch, I'll give you that, but you're still not on my level yet." The Source said as it began casting yet another spell at her. Five nearby rocks were changed into wolves who then charged at her.

"Dnib!" Prue said, and silk scarves came flying out of her sleeves and wrapped themselves around the jaws and legs of the wolves forcing them to fall to the ground. "Mrof lanigiro ruoy ot nruter!" She said and the wolves shifted to their rock states.

The Source raised its hands and alighting bolt appeared out of either hand and headed straight at Prue.

The witch countered this by having the boulders that had been wolves a moment ago rise up and intercept the lasts before they could hit her. She held her hand out and began muttering. "Sdrac evisolpxe!" A deck of cards appeared in her hands and she levitated them into the air causing the cards to begin spinning around The Source She then caused the cards to shoot downward hitting The Source from all sides causing several explosions on him.

"When the dust cleared, The Source was still there, even if he was on one knee. "Impressive witch, but not nearly enough." He said as he used another attack that sent Prue flying across the cave.

She would have struck the wall had it not been for her telekinesis catching her and letting her fall to the ground.

Prue looked up as she saw The Source rise to his feet his robes billowing out behind him as he strode toward her. She realized that despite all the hits she had gotten in that The Source was still going strong. They needed a new plan if they were going to win. She looked around the room where her sisters were currently fighting the Triad members. Paige was barely staying ahead of her opponent, Piper and Phoebe were evenly matched with their opponents, and Cole appeared to be holding his own against the small army that had appeared upon sensing his intrusion.

"And now it's time to die witch." The Source said as it stared down at her. "You fought well, better than most beings. But now your time is at an end." He raised his hand in which an energy ball was in.

"Noisulli!" Prue said and suddenly The Source found himself staring at several different Prue's all scrambling onto their feet. Using the distraction Prue aimed at one of the members of the Triad. "Sgnir gnidnib!" She called out and several metal rings appeared around Phoebe's opponent forcing the demon's arms down.

Phoebe acted on the opening that she now had. She used her stepping disc to come up from behind and below him using her levitation ability to increase her speed. She slashed the demon in the back causing the demon to cry out in pain as the rings shattered and he fell to his knees. Phoebe twirled her sword and then grasped the sword in both hands and stabbed down impaling the demon in the chest. The demon exploded a moment later.

Phoebe looked over and saw that Prue was dodging back and forth between The Source while Prue attacked from one side her gloves were taking wild swings at The Source from the other side. She saw that Paige was disappearing and reappearing with her Triad member, while firing blasts before disappearing. And Piper and her opponent were firing raw magic at each other. A stepping disc appeared beneath her and she appeared beside the demon that Paige was fighting. A slash and the Triad member was groaning from the cut it was now sporting.

"How? The Triad member demanded of the pair. "How could you witches best us?" He demanded as he glared at the pair. "You are the weakest ones." He continued as he tried to understand what had happened to it.

"And we still kicked your asses." Phoebe returned.

Paige smiled at her sister even as she huffed tiredly from all of the teleports that she had been forced to do. Phoebe stood in front of her protectively. It looked like there were some good parts to being a part of this family and it's magic. "Took you long enough." She gasped out.

"Sorry, I'm used to being the youngster forgot you were still on training wheels." Phoebe returned with a grin.

Paige groaned at this, wondering how long Phoebe was going to hold being older than her over her head. Considering Phoebe grew up as the youngest she wasn't sure she wanted to know now that she thought about it. Paige then focused on the Triad member and began to mutter and suddenly the demon exploded.

"Nice," Phoebe congratulated her sister, "come on, we have to help the others." She ordered as the two of them stumbled toward Piper.

"So how do we help her?" Paige wondered, as she watched the two fight each other. She really didn't want to get to close to the pair with all of the magic that they were throwing around at each other.

"We teleport onto different spots, and hit him all together?" Phoebe said a little uncertainly.

"Sounds as good as any other plan." Paige said, and the two vanished only to reappear on either side of Piper and began firing their own spells.

The Triad member was shocked at seeing them but was able to adjust somewhat to allow him to face all three of the sisters. "You won't win. Even if you destroy us do you really think even with a fourth sister that you have enough power to fight The Source?" He demanded angrily as he fired an energy ball at the two younger sisters. Phoebe raised her arm and the ball broke harmlessly off against her armor while Paige disappeared and reappeared and resumed her firing. She teleported again when another attack came at her only when she reappeared the Triad Member shimmered next to her and backhanded her into the wall.

"I don't have time for such pathetic games. The demon informed her.

"Paige!" the other sisters said in worry as they watched the girl fall to the ground.

"Now die witch!" The Triad Member growled, as he fired another energy ball at Phoebe.

Piper froze the energy ball and a smirking Phoebe swung her sword at it, sending it traveling back at the surprised demon as his own attack struck him and caused him to catch on fire.

Piper followed that up with several blasts of her own which got through his defenses and burned him to a crisp.

The two sister ran toward Paige and checked her over. "I'm alright." Paige grumbled, as she climbed to her feet. "Let's help Prue so that we can get out of here though." She pleaded with the others.

"Yeah with The Source, it's going to take all of us." Piper said worriedly. She didn't think that she could take losing her sister again after everything else that had happened today.

"Then we better save Cole as well." Phoebe said. The sisters turned to see that Cole was flinging energy balls as fast as possible at the moment and was holding the demons back but by all of the burns on his clothes it was also obvious that he was taking several dangerous hits.

Piper nodded at that. "Fine you teleport him to safety, and I'll do the rest."

Phoebe nodded and she stepped onto her disk and reappeared next to Cole. She grabbed him and the two disappeared back into the disc and the two were alongside of the sisters.

As soon as they were next to them Piper began firing spells at the entryway and they watched as it seemed to crumble and fall blocking them off.

"Thanks." A tired and weakened Cole said to the sisters. The witches looked at him and saw that his shirt had been destroyed and that he was covered in burns. "Please tell me we're ready to get out of here." He pleaded with them.

"Not yet, we still have to take on The Source." Phoebe explained, as she helped Cole to his feet while nodding toward where Prue and The Source were exchanging fire with each other.

Cole grimaced at that, but nodded his head in acceptant as he slowly rose to his full height. Fine, let's do this." He said as he began to slowly move forward.

"Before you do that, you might as well change." Piper returned to him. "We're going to need all the power we can get when facing The Source."

The former demonic assassin/lawyer nodded his head in understanding as he changed and his body grew taller and more muscular and his skin was all red and he had black tattoos all over his body. Belthazar grinned as he created an energy ball in either hand. "Let's go." He said in a deep voice.

The sisters nodded and followed after him. The group climbed over to where the two powerhouses were fighting. They got up there just in time to watch Prue get blasted and sent hurtling into their group.

"Hi," Prue said as she picked herself up. "Riaper," she muttered waving her hand over herself causing her clothes to repair themselves of any of the battle damage that she had received. She held her hand out and her top hat, gloves, and wand shot into her hands. "Alright please tell me one of you has a plan." She said hopefully, as she saw that The Source was marching toward them.

"Sorry." Phoebe said sheepishly.

The Source stopped and regarded them, looking the group over before turning to look at the remains of the chamber where the Triad Members had fallen and the cave was now sealed off. "I didn't think that it was possible for you to manage that." The Source admitted to them. "Still, even with the deaths of the Triad there is little hope for you. Paige Matthews you still have a chance to walk away from this." He offered to the witch. "Stand at my side, and not only will you live but you shall become a true and powerful witch. I don't see why you have to die along with these others. While it is true that they may indeed be your blood family what is it that you actually them. They dragged you into the dangerous world of magic. What does that tell you about the kind of people that they really are?"

The witch looked hesitant for a moment her eyes drifting back and forth between the sisters on one side and The Source on the other. "Thanks but I think I'll pass on that." Paige said. "Besides with my luck you'd expect me to wear some skanky outfit if I worked for you. I'd like to keep my dignity."

"So you have made your choice then." The Source said. "A pity, I would have found some uses for a witch of your potential."

"Okay the death threats and the offer to make one of us evil is over, does that mean we can get onto the fight now?" Phoebe asked curiously, even as she eyed The Source warily.

"If you are truly so eager to die then I shall be more than pleased to destroy you and your sisters Phoebe Halliwell. The Source returned to her as he fired an energy ball at the witch.

Belthazar threw his own energy balls and the two attacks canceled each other out. "You didn't really think that you could attack Phoebe and I wouldn't try anything did you?" Cole questioned The Source. "After all the time that I worked for you, I would have thought that you would know better than to try something like that." He informed The Source as he created a new energy ball in either hand.

What followed next was truly amazing, as The Source somehow managed to fight and counter the entire group that had been arrayed against it. Belthazar had tried just throwing energy balls, but when that failed he had tried to use his raw strength only to find his own super strength was inadequate in comparison to that of The Source and found himself tossed to the side. Paige had remained farther back and had sniped The Source in an attempt to catch him, but the demon almost casually caught or deflected her attacks away from himself. Piper had tried to use her hex powers, but the bad luck effects barely even seemed to bother him. Phoebe had tried with her sword, only to find that The Source could go immaterial as he wanted and that a number of her blows slid right through him. Prue had fought as well, but hadn't fared any better than she had earlier. Combined, all the group was managing was to keep the powerful demon back.

"So far the hitting him with everything we got plan doesn't seem to be working to well." Piper noted, as she glared at the cloaked figure before them.

"Yeah I noticed." Prue said grimly, as she fired her own magic at him. "Do you have any ideas on how to stop him though?"

"My main idea is running away." Piper admitted in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Not like I can blame you." Prue returned, as she tried another spell. "The idea was to take out the Triad and make sure they couldn't rise again anytime soon. We weren't expecting to have another threat in which we had to deal with."

"So do we have a plan?" Phoebe questioned them hopefully. "Because, a plan would be really good right about now. Paige is tiring and Cole has taken a pretty big beating."

"Almost makes me wish the extra power we had didn't destroy the Power of Three." Piper said. "Being able to use one of those spells right about now would be really helpful."

"Okay we don't have the Power of Three anymore, but we're still a lot stronger than we used to be. Surely there's something we can do." Prue said stubbornly, unwilling to quit just yet.

"Well the Power of Three is gone for the moment, but what about the four elements?" Phoebe asked, as she used her sword to deflect an incoming energy ball. She was finding that her new skills made her more situated for close range combat or long distance defense. "Hekate called on them to grant us power, can't we call on them to do something against The Source?"

"Maybe." Prue said, as her mind began trying to figure things out on whether or not such a spell might work.

Piper allowed her sisters to try and come up with a counter, since the two of them had studied magic more than she had. Then again she had a business to run instead of having to deal with some of the things that her sisters did. They had also immersed themselves deeper into the being witches aspect of their lives than she had. There was also the fact that when it came to potions she was the one that they got to make the truly difficult ones.

"It might work, but it would work better as a binding spell." Prue said. "That means it would be better not to try and vanquish him."

"Like we have a chance of that right now?" Paige shouted from where she was shooting. "I don't know about the rest of you but I'm thinking that if you can just tie him up we'll all be a lot better."

"Fine keep him busy then while Phoebe and I try and work out a spell." Prue said as the two witches ducked behind a boulder so that they could work the spell out.

"What a time to try and create a new spell." Paige said. "Tell me is it always like this?"

"What, mind numbing terror followed with insane and crazy ideas that should have zero probability of actually working?" Piper questioned her newfound sister dryly. "Way more often than I would like to actually admit, or you want to know." She said, as she fired another bolt only for The Source to casually deflect it.

"I don't know if I should be worried or not." Paige said, as she raised a shield. "I actually meant having to create a new spell though, because something unexpected happened."

"Not as often, but still more than we like, Piper said, "usually when things start happening to go really good or really bad. Fortunately for us Prue and Phoebe understand a lot of the stuff required in making new spells."

Prue and Piper came over at that moment. "Here's the spell, we need to be standing on all four compass points around him for it to work though." Phoebe hastily explained

While this was going on Prue caused several stalagmite's to shoot out of the ground and encircle the demon. "Piper, bring the other side down." She ordered.

Piper nodded and aimed at the ceiling and caused the stalactites fall down and like a mouth full of razor sharp teeth the demon was held.

Phoebe used the moment that the others were using to admire the handiwork to make her move and opened a stepping disc and thrust her blade through it and pulled back out. They all heard a bellow of rage. "What?" She asked as she hefted her sword onto her shoulder. "He deserved it."

"And if he had decided to follow the blade through?" Piper asked in annoyance. "What would we have done then?" She asked while putting her hands on her hips and glaring at her sister.

"Oh yeah, ah oops." Phoebe said as she realized that her sister was right.

"Never mind that right now." Prue said, stopping the pair from having an argument. "Take your spots that will only hold him for a moment or two." The sisters nodded as each of them took up their positions where they were told." As they finished the rock shattered and The Source strode out.

"Cole stop him." Prue ordered.

Belthazar nodded, and rushed forward grasping the demon and holding onto him. "Okay, do it." Prue said.

"But what about Cole?" Phoebe questioned as she looked toward where Belthazar was containing the demon.

"We'll have to trust in him." Prue said.

"But."

"Phoebe do it!" Cole ordered. "If this is the only way to get this slime bag off of my back, then I'll do it."

"You heard him, let's do it." Prue said.

The quartet nodded and began to read off the papers that contained the spell.

"By the power of the North, South, East, and West we call the elements four.

Heed our call and help us with our chore

Paige raised her hands up over her head. "To the East the essence of Air the place of all beginnings."

"Aide us and give us the blessing of winnings."

Prue raised her hands next. "To the South the essence of Fire, and Power."

"Grant us the strength to bind this one in our need of the hour."

Piper raised her hands next. "To the West the essence of water, and healing."

"Strengthen us with the power of sealing."

Phoebe looked over at the struggling Cole who merely nodded his head at her causing the witch to start her part of the spell.

"To the North the essences of earth mystery."

"Strengthen the power of our witchery."

The four sisters then began to chant together.

"Bind this Source of Evil."

"Away from all the powers of the deceitful."

"Let strength be turned away, as magic rejects magic."

"All who search will find static."

Bound by the power of the elements four."

"Trapped deep within the core."

Bound through Air, Fire, Water, and Earth."

"Bound so he can never return to their hearth."

"Bound by the strength of North, South, East, and West."

"A strength that can withstand any test."

"A power from which there never will be an escapee."

"So mote it be."

Belthazar waited until the sisters were finished with their spell before he shimmered to the side. He was glad that they had added in the name of The Source or it was likely that he would have been caught within the prison as well. He watched as first the wind created a small cyclone around The Source, following that was a ring of fire, then a ring of water or ice, and finally the earth rose up and swallowed the entire prison dragging it farther beneath the ground. He shook his head. A binding spell that used all of the elements at that level was an extremely powerful and complex spell. He then watched as the sister began adding defenses to the area insuring that nothing could free The Source anytime soon. He quickly shifted back to his human appearance as the sisters turned back around to face him. He and Phoebe shared a quick kiss before the others joined them.

"Alright time to get out of here." Phoebe said as she created a new stepping disc for them. I so do not want to be around here when they break through and realize that we somehow managed to defeat all of their bosses. The others nodded in agreement, as they all stepped into the glowing circle only to disappear and reappear in the manor.

The minute they reappeared in the manor they all found their way into the living room and collapsed into the various chairs. "Leo!" Piper called out into the air.

A moment later several orb lights fell from above and Leo appeared before them. "Piper." The Whitelighter said as he rushed to the side of his wife and began looking her over. There were several burns and cuts on all of them and he quickly began the process of healing each of them. "What happened to all of you?" He queried, as he tried to assess all of the injuries that the group had from their mission.

"We went to take care of the Triad, only thing is The Source got there before we could get anything done. It forced us to take them all on." Piper explained to her husband tiredly.

"You fought the Triad and The Source, and you managed to escape?" Leo said in disbelief as he listened to the tale of the group.

"Actually we somehow managed to beat them." Cole said with a stiff grin as Phoebe brought in some bandages and helped him to wrap his injuries. Being of demon ancestry, a whitelighter's healing touch had limited effect on him.

"What?" Leo asked in shock as the group then told him the tale of how they had somehow managed to fight off not only the Triad, but The Source as well.

"Well done all of you." A voice said and the group turned to see Hekate standing there before them. "You have managed to do your duty well my chosen witches." The Goddess said in approval as she surveyed the group.

"So what happens next?" Prue asked suspiciously, figuring this could be when they learned of the cost in accepting the power was.

"Now you continue as before daughters of Melinda Warren." Hekate told the room of heroes. "While the prophecy of the Charmed Ones is no more, there are still many things that can and will happen. You are strong now, stronger than many others. The power you wield now could make or break the world. The challenges you face now will be even stronger and more powerful than they were before. Battling the Triad and The Source is but the first step for you."

"I don't know whether or not I should be happy about that." Piper grumbled, as she considered what that might mean.

"Have no fear Sister of Time, while there are many more tests to come there are also many others out there that are coming as well. You are no longer as alone as you once thought yourselves to be. We will not let all that has happened stop good from being in this world." Hekate smiled as she then gave them another it of news. "As a reward for all that you have done Scions of Melinda Warren, I have magically expanded your home a couple of extra floors to provide you with training space and living quarters for your sister should she choose to live with you."

The sisters all looked relieved at that. And gave thanks to the woman.

The Goddess then turned to look at Cole who was doing his best to be unnoticed. A divine being that saw to it that the sisters defeated The Source and the Triad was not someone that he wanted to be on the bad side of.

"Well done Cole Turner, you have fought upon the side of good and triumphed." Hekate praised, as she looked the demon over in approval. "For your willingness to grow above and beyond your nature, to embrace love instead of hatred I give unto you a gift." The goddess waved her hands and Cole glowed for a moment. "You are now truly the Jason Blood of the group. Belthazar, your demon shall no longer control you young one. From this point onward the demon and the man shall forge the path they choose not the one that magic forces upon them."

"You mean I can transform without worrying about going evil?" Cole said with a smile, as he realized what this meant. Giving up his Belthazar side had been hard for him since he had spent many years proving his strength and power. The downside of using any of his powers though was that there was a chance that the dark instincts of the demon would influence him into embracing his dark side. For Phoebe and the chance to be good though he was willing to try it. Now the Witch Queen was telling him that the use of his powers was no longer dangerous and that it wouldn't turn him evil. Instead it would be like any other ability that the sisters used. The dark influenced was no longer going to be there.

"Indeed, the choice on what side you choose is now yours son of Benjamin Turner. Use the choice that has been given to you wisely." Hekate ordered, before she blurred and disappeared.

"Wow." Cole said he grinned then and gave Phoebe a kiss. "I guess I really am your Jason Blood now." He told the group with a grin.

The witches all nodded their heads in agreement. It seemed that a new chapter to their lives as witches had started. They were all eager to see just how it went.

Prue looked towards the broken front doors. She had been dead but now she was alive and even stronger than ever. While not everything had worked out the way that they had wanted a lot of things had changed and left them with much to think about. She sighed before she waved the large doors shut.


	3. Witchblade

The Worst Witch characters is the copyright of Jill Murphy and CITV as I understand. Witchblade is a Topcow copyright, and the bad guy is a HP inspired victim.

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**Cambridge England**

In a small café a girl was studying through a large book. The girl had brownish red hair that was cut short, a long ways from the pigtails that the young woman had once worn all of the time. The book in her hands was unlike any book that most people would read. The book talked about magic as if it was something that a person could really use. The chapter that the girl was turned to discussed the underlying principles of working magic in triad groups as opposed to attempting the spells independently. It noted both the strengths and weaknesses that this type of spell casting caused. The girl was currently studying magic at one of the most prestigious schools of magic in Cambridge, the Weirdsister College. She was Mildred Hubble, a young teen witch that was trying to gain an even greater grasp on her magical abilities than she already did. She had come to the college on a scholarship, in the hope that she could learn more about all things to do with magic and learn more about some of her more unique mystical gifts.

The girl was broken out of her thoughts at a loud explosion that echoed throughout the block. The noise also set off several alarms and shattered glass from many of the various shops. Rising from her seat, Mildred headed toward the source of the explosion. She gasped as she saw that the source of the explosion was. A large figure in a robe with a white mask hiding his features was directing several large trolls at the secret entrance of Weirdsister College. She looked the trolls over and quickly identified them. They were bridge trolls ranging at around 7 feet tall. The trolls were all carrying large spiked maces and heavy axes. They were currently beating their weapon against the school's wards, which was the only thing that was keeping the school safe from being invaded by the creatures. The magic wielder was also firing what looked like explosive bolts of magic to drain away at the defenses. The attacks were causing the shield to flare with each hit the magical ones more so than the blows from the trolls. This was like nothing that she had ever seen. She couldn't imagine why the wizards would want to attack their school. It wasn't as if it even kept any powerful artifacts or anything. At least none that she was aware of. Maybe they wanted one of the professor's research.

"Put yer backs into it!" The wizard ordered as he fired another spell. "This school will learn what it happens to those that dare to sully themselves by trying to mingle the ways of the magical world with the ways of muggles. I want this abomination to magical teaching to be burned to the ground."

Mildred looked nervous as she stared at the figures. She had never been overly skilled when it came to magical combat. Sure she had taken the basic courses, but her skills had always been rather inadequate in comparison with those of people like her old nemesis from Cackle's Academy, Ethel Hallow. Her skills had always been in area effect spells with conjuration and illusions. She had actually spent more time in learning counter curses than in learning dangerous spells. She quickly waved her hands, and several chains appeared and wrapped around the trolls binding them from attacking.

The masked figure waved what looked like an honest god wand. She knew that most wizards used staffs, as it seemed they required them to perform magic. She had never seen any wizard use a magic wand before though. With a single wave of his wand the chains just disappeared from the trolls. "Foolish girl, you didn't really think yourself able to challenge me did you?" The wizard demanded, as he turned to face her. "While you may be of the wandless witch type, it's obvious you have no real skill with magic. I had heard that the wandless witches might prove to be of some challenge, but you are as weak and useless as any muggleborn."

Mildred didn't know what a muggleborn was, but she was going to stop this figure that was attacking the school. With a wave of her hand, she sent a bolt of magic at the wizard, only for him to flick his wand and deflect the spell with an almost casual grace. He then flicked his wand again and another spell came speeding at Mildred.

Using what she remembered of magical combat, Mildred deflected the spell away from her by crossing her hands and knocking the spell into the air. A skilled fighter could have swatted the spell away. Mildred wasn't a real fighter though. She knew that she had gotten lucky though, and that the next time the wizard would probably overwhelm her meager defenses.

"Hopefully there are more challenging magic users within these walls other than you girl. Because you are hardly worth the time it took play with." The wizard said in disgust, as he fired another spell at her.

Mildred tried to move out of the way, but she still felt a stinging sensation on her arm. Looking down, she saw that she now had a long cut on her shoulder that was bleeding quite a bit. Clutching her arm she rose to her feet only for the wizard to make a couple of jabbing sensations with his wand and she screamed as she felt her ribs break.

"Yes, scream little witch." The wizard said mockingly. "Give me music to work with. Already the wards on your school weaken, and soon I shall be within its walls and learn all of your secrets." The wizard taunted the young witch.

"No." Mildred said defiantly, as she raised her hand and muttered a few words, causing mist to spring from all over hiding everyone from view.

The wizard laughed at this. "You think that you can hide from me with some mist?" He questioned, as he waved his wand and a purple flame leapt from his wand, and blasted where the girl had been a moment before. "Someone should have taught you the futility of trying to hide from a Death Eater girl. When we have chosen our target, there is none that will get in our way."

Mildred kept her head down as she tried to think up a way to stop this figure with his wand. Every time she felt that she was safe a new blast of magic struck out blasting something else away. She had to admit that the wand made the casting that the man performed to be quiet fast in his spells.

Reaching into her book bag she pulled out one of her sketch books. She quickly flipped through the pages before finding the picture that she wanted. Holding the page out she concentrated, and suddenly the picture that was on it leaped off of the page. Now there was a large tiger that was pacing up and down. "Get him!" She ordered the animal. The tiger nodded and padded away into the mist searching for its prey. Mildred quickly began searching through the rest of her sketch book to find more things that could help her with this fight. Soon two knights joined her, and stood near her in a protective stance. Mildred Hubble while a only fair witch even if she did say so herself had a rather unique ability that very few in the magical world had ever heard of. She had the ability to make pictures to come to life. If she had a Whitelighter, she would have known that the ability she possessed was classified as Thought Projection. Mildred had been brought up in a different part of the magical world though, and had never even seen a Demon much less Whitelighter.

The fog cleared as Mildred focused more on her drawings than on hiding and the Death Eater was slicing the tiger in half at the time. "There you are mudblood." The Death Eater said smugly, as he pointed his wand and began casting various cutting curses at the girl. The knights quickly moved forward and used their shields to block the spells even as they drew their swords out. They were now ready to fight with the dark wizard. "Avada Kedavra!" The Death Eater roared out the incantation and a bolt of green slammed into one of the knights knocking him over. As soon as he struck the ground the knight caught on fire and disappeared. Another spell and Mildred's other knight was destroyed as well.

Mildred began paging through her sketchbook desperate to find something else to fight with, as it was becoming obvious that she needed something stronger. "Come on, come on, come on." She pleaded with the sketch book, even as the wizard aimed his wand at her. She dropped the book, as it suddenly caught fire. The flames burned at her hands even as she dropped the book. She clutched at her hands, even as she saw the blisters that were popping up on her hands hurt like everything

"Not a bad trick little witch, such a skill must come in handy." The Death Eater noted angrily at having been delayed by the girl. "The time for you and your little games are over though." He slashed his wand at the girl and Mildred gasped as she felt the spell cut into her. The wizard walked over to her and knelt down beside her. "You really are the worst sort of witch aren't you?" The man asked mockingly.

Mildred flinched as she heard her old title from school being flung in her face. It seemed that no matter where she went, or what she did that name would stick with her even unto death. She closed her eyes and waited for the death low that was sure to come.

"If you manage to live through this mudblood, I might find something to feed you to." The Death Eater said as he stuck his wand under the girl's chin. "Now how do I get past the wards girl?"

"I'll never say." Mildred coughed out defiantly, doing her best to glare at the man despite the fact that she was broken and bleeding out. She wondered where all of the others were and why no one had come out to stop this wizard yet. Perhaps they figured that they were safe within the confines of the school wards and she had rushed forward and had accomplished nothing. It was just like her to rush headlong into trouble when she should have just stayed back she thought to herself.

Scowling the wizard backhanded the girl before rising to his feet. "It matters not mudblood. Soon these wards will be down anyways. Once that is done I shall take this school and prove the power that I hold. Soon the others will see that I am right and that there are other places of magic that we can take from and become stronger." He huffed as he kicked at her prone form. Stupid mudblood, you're too far gone to be of any concern to me. "The Death Eater said as he turned his back on the witch and resumed his attack on the wards. He grinned as he saw that the constant pounding was actually bringing them down. The power was weakening and soon he would be through despite the interference of the girl.

As she watched the figure move away from her Mildred's vision started to go blurry and she imagined that she was back at Cackle's Academy with Enid and Maude while dodging the dark and forbidding looks of Miss. Hardbroom and Ethel's petty little tricks. Her vision seemed to swim before her eyes, as she remembered every misadventure that she had ever had and seemed to be reliving it. From her first day of entering Cackles Academy, to what had finally drawn her here and her futile attempt at stopping this wizard and his pets. As she imagined herself safely back at Cackle's Academy, she imagined that there was a large rabbit that was staring at her as if watching and judging her. The animal seemed to make a decision though as it leaned toward her, and the witch was somewhat surprised to hear the animal start to talk. "You have done well for one such as yourself Mildred Hubble." It said in a soft and musical voice that echoed throughout the dream world. "You have faced many different challenges, and fought with a fine strength of character."

"Who are you?" Mildred asked, as she looked at the large animal. "Are you my spirit guide come to guide me to the other side?" She asked curiously. She never would have thought an animal as surefooted as a rabbit would be her guide. Maybe a bumbling hippo or elephant.

The animal actually seemed amused at that notion as it stared at the young witch. "No child, that is not who or what I am." It explained to her. "I am a member of the Celtic Gods that your kind once worshiped many ages ago."

"So you're a goddess?" Mildred said in surprise.

"Aye child, that I am though I have been mostly forgotten." The figure then morphed from its hare form into a young woman wearing armor, a sword, and a shield. "I am Andraste a Goddess of military victory." The goddess explained to the witch.

"So why are you here?" Mildred wondered.

"I have come to give you a choice young one." Andraste informed the witch. "You can die here and now, while this wizard with his many enchanted slaves runs a amok through your school, killing many of those that you consider friends before your professors manage to finally stop them. By my estimates half of your school will likely die before they manage to stop them. Trolls are a rather magically resistant type of creature after all." The Goddess said idly.

"What about Hobbes Swoop, Ethel or Cas?" Mildred questioned, as she listed some of her classmates. While she had mixed feelings about Ethel and Hobbes they were both skilled magic users. Surely between the two of them they should be able to figure out something that could stop the wizard and the creatures that he commanded.

"With their own recent mistakes they have an urge to prove themselves." Andraste reminded the witch. "They will likely fall to the power of the Death Eater or the might of his trolls. That is if they are not convinced that it would not be better for them to join up with the Death Eater that is attacking your school."

"They wouldn't do that." Mildred said weakly not even able to convince herself that the pair wouldn't try to gain power from this situation. "Surely there must be something that you can do though?" She pleaded of the Goddess.

Andraste was quiet for a moment as she seemed to be lost in thought. "Many things have changed for this world young witch. The lines of fate which are watched over and guide have become tangled and hard to understand. The one known as the Master of Death and his friends were supposed to be the ones to help deal with these remaining Death Eaters. With their unity broken though, the dark wand wizards known as Death Eaters have been gathering amongst themselves and attempting to make themselves powerful in their own right. It is why this Death Eater has come here. He plans to learn all of your magical knowledge then move on. Others like him will follow his example. It will not be long before groups like these become strong enough to move out and hit multiple schools of magic. This is but the first strike, and they will learn from it. After this though, they will come back in force and then even your precious Cackles won't be safe from all of this death and destruction. If you're lucky your young cousin will become a slave to a powerful magic user when she comes of age. If she is not killed outright for not being born into the right family that is. With so much magical conflict spilling out though, the governments of the world are now taking an interest into the supernatural and trying to find a way to force it to bow to its control. Such an interest in the supernatural by governments has not happened since the days of World War II. I'm sure you remember how bloody some of those conflicts became before the end of the war?" She questioned glancing over at the girl who nodded her acknowledgement of that. "Many of the ones that had once hunted the demons and other supernatural creatures have been wiped out while there's an increase in demon numbers thanks to the Devils Gate that was cracked open not too long ago. The rise of Illyria happening about two or three years early and retaining more of its power than she was originally intended to. Add in the fact that the Illyria isn't helping the balance of light as was foreseen, and has nearly taken over the entire European wand wizarding world. Even now the Illyria has a tight grip on parts of the wizarding world even if they are no longer united in their efforts to control it. Once they learn of this part of the magical world that has combined the regular world and the magical world they will be quick to take it over increasing their power even more. That is if the Death Eaters don't manage it first. The loss of so many of the Seals of Hell and the Angels that were supposed to guard them. The breaking of the box that held Lucifer prisoner. The raising of the Four Horsemen who were even now traveling in the states causing all sorts of terror and destruction to all that they came across. The Death of Albus Dumbledore, who while manipulative was still a force of goodness. With him gone there is also the loss of Fawkes, one of the great phoenixes. The loss of the White Master as well makes this world all that darker.

"It is because of all of this that the Gods of old have awoken again. It is our hope that we can stop this world from being destroyed. Those that were supposed to watch over it all allowed things to fall apart and now it is our duty to repair all that they have permitted to be destroyed. However even with an increase in our powers and what we are allowed there are limitations on what we are allowed to do." Andraste said sounding somewhat discouraged by the enormity of the task that faced it and its fellow higher beings. "We cannot become personally involved in shifting the balance of the world back to where it needs to be. This means that we cannot battle those such as the Death Eater and his servants directly."

"Isn't there anything that you can do to help all of them though?" Mildred pleaded of the Goddess for the sakes of all of her friends.

"Indeed young witch there is one thing that I might be able to do to help you and you're friends." Andraste said as she knelt beside the witch. "Many of the Gods of old are awakening, and have chosen champion warriors to battle with the darkness by imbuing them with a small part of their power. The Greeks have Amazon, the Morrigan have Blade, Hekate has Chosen a group of sisters, Raven has chosen one who has taken his name, the Aesir have Valkyrie, Merlin has chosen Gryffindor, and Gaia has chosen Fire."

"What does this have to do with what's going on here?" Mildred asked nervously.

"It is simple young one. I can stop this from turning into a bloodbath, but it will require a champion to infuse my power into." Andraste explained to the witch.

"Then find Ethel or someone to accept your power." Mildred said desperately.

"No, I have already chosen." Andraste returned to the witch. "My champion shall be you Mildred Hubble. There are none but you that is worthy of this. While the various diviners would never have chosen you as a champion of the world, they would have chosen you as a defender of the people. You were never meant to be a champion, but with the imbalance of the world even those that were not originally intended to become heroes are now being chosen."

"But someone like Ethel, or even Enid would be such better choices than me." Mildred argued with the Goddess, not believing that she was really what the Goddess wanted or needed in a champion. "Those two know what they're doing all the time."

"They have their good points your friend Enid Nightshade has the warriors heart, but there are others looking toward her right now. She has some decisions to make still before the final decision will be made. She is also too far to help you right now. Though if she knew that you needed her she would come. As for your companion Ethel Hallow, she has not the right heart Mildred Hubble. She is loyal to her family and herself first before anything else. While not a dark witch, she is a gray one. This is not a onetime call to arms should you accept the power then you shall be my champion for life."

"Will it allow me to keep people safe?" Mildred asked curiously.

"You will be able to protect all of them." Andraste assured her. "The true question now though, is do you have what it takes to fight for those that you claim to care for? Are you willing to make a sacrifice of yourself for others?"

Mildred's face took on a grim appearance as she stared back at the Goddess. "I'll do it." She said determinedly. "I'll take your power and protect them all to the best of my ability."

"Very well then Mildred Hubble, the Worst Witch of Cackle's Academy." Andraste said as she waved her hand over the witch's arm. Take this then young one, you shall need it for the things that are about to come."

Mildred looked down at her arm and saw that a large silver bracelet had been placed on her arm. "What is it?" She asked as she looked at it. On her arm was a heavy bracelet covered in a variety of Celtic designs that she recognized and in the center of it was a large red jewel that seemed to glow with untold power.

Andraste smiled in amusement at the question. "As you are not an American and your life is full of wonder already you may not be as familiar with the world of comics and superheroes as some of the other champions are. This here is the Witchblade. It is an enchanted weapon. When you are wearing it like this it shall give you slightly enhanced physical abilities when you are at full power it shall put you on a level that is like that of a Vampire Slayer. I am entrusting the power to you young one, do not disappoint me. You now have the power to fight, show them what you can do now wake and stop this dark wizard. If you do manage to survive this, be sure to ask your teachers what the Age of Champions is for it has now returned. Such a thing is both wonderful and awful all at the same time."

Mildred nodded her head in understanding, as she felt strength beginning to rush through her body. Her vision blurred again and she found herself back in front of the entrance to the school lying in a puddle of her own blood. She rose to her feet and looked at her arm seeing that the jewel within the Witchblade was practically shimmering with power. She examined her wounds but saw that the injuries were already starting to seal themselves back over. This was faster than the strongest healing spell that she had read about. She raised her arm, and watched in shocked wonder as the bracelet grew over her arm. First it turned into a giant bracer, but then sped up into a metal gauntlet and then into armor that continued to grow all around her. Soon she was standing in a chain mail suit over that medieval plate armor that was covered in various Celtic designs grew. The armor grew in two layers over her body one a dark metal while over that in her more vulnerable areas a bright silver armor molded itself to her. Gauntlets covered both of her hands following that was a cowter that protected her elbows spaulders that covered her shoulders following that was a dark colored gorget that covered her upper chest and neck while the rest of her chest was covered with a silver breastplate, following that was a stuuded skirt made out of sheets of metal. The skirt gave her a feminine look while taking away none of her mobility. Her legs were also covered in chain mail which ended in a pair of armored boots and greaves that traveled up to her knees. On her head a protective headpiece framed her head. All in all, she was much more deadly and scarier version of the girl shad been moments before. She held her hands out and watched as two swords sprang out from the wrists of her armor. It was as if the armor was somehow alive and responding to her need for protection and weapons.

Mildred turned and headed toward the group of attackers. She flipped over the Death Eater, who was so shocked at seeing this figure, that he stopped casting spells as he watched to see what the newcomer would do. With her swords leading, Mildred charged and slashed through the backs of two of the trolls. She then turned around slashed at the other trolls as they tried to deal with the unexpected attacker. The dim witted creatures were slow on responding to the attacks though giving her plenty of time to jab her sword at them several times before they managed to complete their turn to face her. An explosion landed near their feet through forcing the trolls back into the wall while their assailant was tossed into the air. With a twist the armored figure managed to land on their feet in a crouch and facing the direction that the spell had come from. Mildred glared at the one that had interrupted her fight with the trolls. There with his wand already pointing at her was the wizard that defeated her once already. Hopefully the second round would go differently.

"It appears that there is more to you than meets the eye girl." The Death Eater noted, as he began firing curses at the young witch.

To Mildred the spells seemed to be moving at a much slower speed, as she was able to see the spells and react to the magical attacks by bringing her wrist blades up to block the attacks. The spells bounced off of the swords and cut gouges into the walls. Mildred smirked as she raised one blade and forced a spell to go hurtling back at the wizard.

Snarling, the Death Eater deflected the spell with a shielding spell. "Yes, there's obviously more to you than at a first glance, but I'll still deal with you and any others that get in my way. Kill her." He ordered the trolls who nodded as they lumbered toward her.

Mildred eyed the group up and down looking for any strengths or weaknesses. There were three of them left. One had a hammer, the other an ax, and the final one had a mace. They must have some sort of magic nullifying power or other enchantments to be able to wear the wards around the school down. She raised her arms and caught the mace and the ax on her blades. She grunted as she felt the sheer power behind the lows as the two creatures tried to force their weapons down.

The wizard watched in stunned disbelief as he saw that the creatures were being held off by a mere slip of a girl. That shouldn't be possible, yet somehow she was holding her own against magical creatures that were many times stronger than she was. It simply didn't make any sense. He watched as the troll with the hammer came swinging in and caught her in the stomach lifting the girl up and sent her flying away. She slammed into the wall and crumpled to the ground. The wizard sighed with relief, while she had a few surprises it was obvious that she still lacked many of the skills that were needed for her to become a true threat to him and his plans. She would fall just like all of the others would. Soon he would be the one that they referred to as the dark lord and feared to speak his name. Europe had quivered at the name of Voldemort that would be terrified of what he became and did.

Mildred shook the echoing pain off and focused on the creatures that she was fighting. She hadn't expected the trolls to have any form of teamwork to their skills but they had done it somehow. She wondered if it had been an accident or they were really that good of fighters to have managed that. Then again it wasn't like she actually had a lot of experience with fighting anyways. Shrugging her concerns off, she rushed toward them again. This time she went low, the blade cutting deep into the leg of the troll she then raised her other arm up skyward and finished the troll off by gutting it. Leaping into the air she performed a spin kick that caught its partner and sent it stumbling back. She then turned to look at the hammer wielding troll. She intercepted the hammer with her blade. The clanging sound echoed all throughout the alley. Her arm felt numb from the power of the blow. The troll came in for another swing. This time she dodged the hammer as it came crashing down beside her. One of the sword on her hands morphed into an ax and she swung snapping the head of the hammerhead off. The troll raised its weapon and looked at the remnants of its weapon in disbelief. It tossed the remains to the side and began swinging massive fists at her instead. As one fist came close several spike erupted from the armor and while she was tossed to the side the creature howled in pain.

Mildred picked herself up and noticed that she had burst through the door, she noticed that her teachers and several of her fellow students were lying in wait.

"Mildred Hubble?" Ethel asked in disbelief. "Just what is that you are wearing?" She asked arrogantly as her eyes wandered up and down the first generation witch.

"Not now Ethel." Mildred returned as she raised her hands and fired several spikes from the tip of her gauntlets at the remaining two trolls who faltered for a moment before falling to the ground. Mildred fell down to one knee in relief that the trolls were done for. The fact that the wards had been shattered in the fight did make it a hollow victory though.

"Impressive." The Death Eater said as he casually stopped in from of the doorway that led into the school. "There aren't many that have the power to meet three bridge trolls in combat and win. Not even you can beat what I have next though." He said as he raised his wand and fired several sparks into the air. "Even as we speak I have summoned some of my strongest allies. There is going to be nothing that you can do to stop me this time around."

"And what have you summoned?" Headmistress Thunderblast demanded. The woman was old having come along in her years but was still able to move about with the speed of a younger person.

"Just some leftovers from the last war." The Death Eater returned mockingly. He smirked as he saw several figures come into the ally the figures then blocked the entrance.

"What are they?" Hobbes questioned with interest even as he was preparing a spell. Had anyone looked at the young wizard they would have thought that they were looking on the child of Severus Snape. The youth shared many of the same physical traits that the former Hogwarts Headmaster had. He was dressed in black robes, was pale skinned, had dark calculating eyes, dark hair, and had an aura of darkness around him.

"Dementors." Professor Johnathan Shakeshaft noted. The immortal wizard scowled as he saw the creatures. "They are amongst the most powerful and evil of creatures, capable of making a person relive their worst memories while feeding on your good emotions and only the most powerful of light spells can even affect them negatively. It would be wiser to fall back than to try and confront such creatures."

"Only the strongest of spells huh?" Hobbes asked with a grin as he raised his staff and aimed it at the creatures. Speaking a long incantation a jet of magical shot from the staff only to bounce off the long black cloak. "Impossible." The young wizard said in disbelief. "It would have to be a being with massive magical reserves to not even notice that spell."

"Which is exactly what it is." Shakeshaft returned to the boy. "Set up a second line of defense, we'll hold them off long enough for you to get here." The young witches and wizards in training nodded as they rushed off leaving the teachers and Mildred in the hallway. "You to Mildred Hubble." The old man said.

"But I can fight." Mildred argued.

"I'm sure that you can." The man said condescending tone. "We want you to live though. I doubt even all of that armor will help you that much against an opponent like this. This is a wand wizard Miss Hubble. They're some of the fastest spell casters around, they also live in a deluded world where might makes right most of the time as well." The old man said as he eyed the wizard with contempt. "There's a reason why our type of magic user try not to interact with them very often. Because usually some idiot wand user decides it's time to start yet another magical war or something similar. On the plus side, it keeps the idiot population down somewhat since they're always fighting amongst themselves. Unfortunately they never can seem to contain their wars and they almost always end up spilling out into the rest of the world somehow."

"Watch your tongue before I am forced to severe it from your head you miserable excuse for a wizard." The Death Eater said angrily as he clenched his fist tightly. "It would be better if you were not to talk of those that you have no real knowledge of."

"I have more knowledge of you and your kind than I care for." Shakeshaft returned to the wizard, looking none too pleased at the wand user that had assaulted the school and students under his care. "You're not the first wizard that I've seen that has embraced the teachings that dark magic has offered."

"Go Mildred." Thunderblast ordered her student. "If we fail, you will need to help the others with the next line of defense while the others prepare the evacuation."

Sighing Mildred took off and soon found herself in the main hall where the others were preparing for the next stage of the confrontation. She turned around and prepared for the incoming attacks. As much as she would like to believe that the teachers would stop the Death Eater she couldn't help but remember what Andraste had said would happen without a champion of some sort. Without a champion the school would fall followed by many others if not today then soon. She let her blades extend as she got into a ready posistion. She only hoped that their teachers didn't get hurt too badly.

"Where did you find that anyways?" Hobbes asked with interest as he looked the enchanted armor over with appreciation. Normally he would have been scanning it with his magic, but like the others he was building up his power for the upcoming confrontation. He had already set up several crystals to help increase his power. He only hoped that he could do this. He still had a few spells in his arsenal that he wanted to try against those creatures before he was ready to admit defeat.

"It's probably just another one of her crazy ideas." Ethel said in disgust. It always irked her when Mildred caught the attention of the wizard.

"Not now Ethel." Mildred returned in a steely voice.

Ethel shrugged at the other witch in an unconcerned manner as she quickly cast a spell that conjured a wall between them and the monsters.

"Ethel take that wall down the teachers can't get back through with that there." Swoop told the girl. "Its effectively trapping the teachers inside with those dementor creatures."

"Like I care." Ethel shot back at the older witch as she tried to plan a way to survive this latest catastrophe. "What did you do this time anyways Mildred Hubble?" She demanded of the armor wearing witch.

"What makes you think that this is my fault?" A shocked Mildred questioned her year mate as she turned to face her former school rival.

Ethel snorted at this as if this was the dumbest question she had ever heard. "Simple Mildred, only you could manage to annoy someone enough to have them send an army of magical creatures after us." She spat at her acidly. "If you would just stop sticking your nose into places that it's not wanted we might not be in this situation again. I swear, its just like being back at Cackle's Academy with you sometimes. We somehow end up with some huge mess that you or your pathetic friends somehow created, and the rest of us have to deal with the consequences of your idiocy."

"You know what Ethel, we'll worry about this later. Right now we have more important things to worry about than who is it at fault for the school being attacked." Mildred returned, before turning face the wall.

"You do remember that Mildred was the first one to forgive you when you and Hobbes summoned that Dark Wizard on accident right?" The redheaded Cas Crowfeather questioned in annoyance. The Canadian girl glared at the girl. "Had it been up to me we would have expelled the both of you, but Millie thought that there was something worth saving in the both of you. Or maybe it was just Hobbes that she wanted to save, and she thought he was worth the price of both of you." She added in with a smirk.

"Can we please fight amongst ourselves later?" Hobbes asked dryly, causing the girls to stop their fight and focus on the wall. There were several shouts and they could hear the echoing sound of magic as the two teachers battled with the dementors and the dark wizard. There was a moment when there was a lull in the noise and everyone then watched as ice began appearing on the wall the entire wall was covered and then it shattered. When the dust cleared, they could all see the dementors and wizard standing next to the unconscious teachers who were hovering beside him like lifeless puppets.

The Death Eater looked somewhat the worst for wear though, as his robes were smoking and his mask was cracked. The wizard walked with the dementors his mask going from side to side as he saw the group of students that had formed up in a defensive circle. He waved his wand, and all of the damage that he had suffered seemed to disappear as the robes straightened and the crack sealed itself up. "Your teachers had some skill." He said stiffly, as he scanned the group. "They still fell to me though. Do not be fools. Surrender and accept your defeat and some of you may yet live." He offered to them.

"I'll take my chances. "Hobbes said stoically, as he channeled a new spell through his staff and fired at the wizard.

The wizard fired his own spell and the two spells intercepted. The Death Eater was older and stronger though and his spell ripped through Hobbes spell and sent him flying across the room where he landed with a sickening crunch before sliding to the floor.

"Fine, I'll stop him." Mildred said as she moved forward to take Hobbes place as the center of their defenses.

"Stop her." The Death Eater ordered to the Dementors. The creatures hovering several feet off the ground began chasing her. Mildred leaped at a column, and then using it she climbed to the top of the building and then out a window.

"I should have known she was a coward." Ethel shot off.

"You idiot, she's drawing them away." Swoop said pointing to the creatures that were flying after their armored friend. With the dementors gone that just left the Death Eater. "Besides, it seems as if we have our hands full with this then." She added pointing to the wand user. The others nodded in agreement as they each cast a variety of spells in the direction of the wizard.

"Ha none of you are in Potter or his companions caliber." The wizard said as he began firing counters to the spells being directed at him.

Mildred was up on top of the roof now while the dementors were circling around her. The ice that their mere presence created would have made standing here extremely dangerous, but thanks to the way her armor created spikes in her boots she was easily gripping the shingles beneath her feet. Her weapons shifted again and she fired a chain whip at one of the creatures. She was somewhat surprised when she saw that the chain actually wrapped around the creature. With everything that the creatures had shrugged off she hadn't been expecting for them to be caught by this. With a jerk she pulled the Dementor toward her and with her other arm skewered the creature. The creature let out a death cry that shattered many of the surrounding windows and caused blood to trickle from her nose and ears. She looked up as many of the Dementors fled, but two of them had remained behind. They flew at her and tackled her the force of the strikes was so great that the ceiling buckled and they fell back into the hall. Mildred twisted in the air and somehow landed on top of the creatures, she then slammed her twin blades into the chests of the Dementors. The creatures screeched again causing all of the students to fall to their knees and cover their ears. The wizard waved his wand and seemed largely unaffected. Mildred pulled her blades out of the cloaks as the ragged garments drifted to the ground.

"Impossible." The Death Eater said in shock as he stared at the girl. Her armor appeared to be roughed up somewhat after taking the brunt of going through the roof, but she was still standing somehow. He looked towards the two empty cloaks in disbelief. Only legendary weapons that could affect spiritual creatures were supposed to be able to do damage Dementors, and never had one been found that could kill one. Yet the strange armor that this girl wore allowed her to do just that. He had entered with a dozen dementors, he wondered where the others had gone or if they too had been destroyed. The witches and wizards at this school had not been a threat to him. It seemed as if the magic users had grown soft while away from the real magical world. They were all lying around two of them had even been treated to his Crucio. This armored girl though, he wasn't sure what to think of her. Still if he wanted to show his fellow purebloods that they could continue the dark lord's mission then he would have to keep going. "Die mudblood filth." He said as he raised his wand and pointed it at her. "Avada Kedavra!"

Several shields popped into place as everyone tried to save the witch from the nasty looking spell. Mildred ducked beneath the spell and appeared alongside of the man. Grabbing the man with her armored hand she pulled up. They all heard the crack of bone as the wand fell out of useless fingers. The professors that had been held up by the spell fell down as without his wand the spells were broken. A moment later Mildred had cast several binding spells of her own while the others were slowly checking themselves over for serious injuries. The fight had been a close thing, and had it not been for Mildred and her armor it was likely that they would have all been taken out.

"Well done Mildred." The headmistress said as she painfully climbed to her feet. "I see that when Cackle's Academy recommended you for this school that they knew just what an amazing witch that you were."

"Thank you professor." Mildred said gratefully. She wondered how she was supposed to get out of the armor now though. As if it understood that the danger was over the armor began retracting. Everyone watched in amazement as the armor that had protected the young witch made several click and clanking sounds until it had reformed back into the heavy bracelet that she had been wearing before. Mildred opened and closed her hand a few times as she examined the bracelet that was on her arm.

"A remarkable piece of magic you have there Mildred." Hobbes said, as he eyed the Witchblade hungrily. His mind was already trying to figure how the device actually worked and what spells had gone into it.

"One that is not yours." Thunderblast reminded the young wizard. The teen didn't look happy about that, but appeared to accept what she said for the moment.

They all turned to look at the damage that had been done to the school. "I suppose that you can tell us what that was all about Miss Hubble?" Professor Shakeshaft questioned the girl curiously as he was helped up.

"I was told to say that the Age of Champions has returned." Mildred promptly answered the wizard. "Does that mean anything to you Professor?" she asked curiously.

The Age of Champions? The man said his eyes widening as he heard a phrase that had been long forgotten. "Yes Mildred, yes it does." Shakeshaft returned solemnly. "The Age of Champions is a dangerous time. The last time people acknowledged that they lived in the Age of Champions was in the days of Arthur Pendragon. Some think that many of the American Tall Tales are an indication that there was another one that may have happened. It is a time when the battle between light and dark are at their strongest. Higher beings choose Warriors or Champions to fight in their name to battle and restore balance to the world or to push society forward into the next age. If we are seeing a return to the Age of Champions then things are about to get very bad indeed as their will be many such battles as the one we just experienced. This was but the beginning of things to come." The old man said solemnly as he thought of all that would and could happen if it was truly a return to the Age of Champions.

"Whether or not such is the case we should all be pleased that we have a champion amongst our own ranks in the form of Mildred Hubble." Thunderblast said proudly while she looked the girl over. "If this is but the beginning, then we shall meet it head on with Mildred at our sides." She declared to those gathered in the hall who all gave weak cheers.

"You do realize that it's just as likely that Hubble drew them here somehow right?" Ethel questioned snootily her arms crossed as she glared at the girl.

"Enough Miss Hallow." Thunderblast ordered. "We will continue to treat Mildred Hubble the same as before. Unless you feel that you need to leave that is?" she said as she turned to look at the girl questioningly.

"Its a nice thought, but I doubt it will work." Shakeshaft said with a sad smile as he regarded the witch in question. "Mildred has a new life though. She should be learning combat magic and be apprenticed to someone who can either help her, or train her in the ways that she needs to be trained. We could give her much of the theory, but there is much we cannot do. She needs a knight or battle mage to train her in the arts of magic and in physical combat. Classes of that order are simply not taught here. Though I have no doubt that there is going to be a renewed interest in those items in the coming years." He said knowingly.

"And where do you suppose I find one of those?" Mildred asked worriedly.

"You can't be serious?" Swoop exclaimed as she saw that the girl was seriously considering leaving Weirdsister to train her magic elsewhere..

Mildred didn't look overly happy as she looked at her friends. "We all know that he's right, I can't stay here with all of you. I need a different kind of training. It wasn't my fault this time, but next time they might come looking for me. Then it will be my fault. I need someone that can teach me how to fight with magic and weapons."

"I've heard rumors of a new battle mage that has been doing a number of things to keep the dark wizards at bay." Shakeshaft admitted. "He might be the one that you need to talk to. At least stay here until you have heard from our contacts. You can also continue your studies until you make a decision."

Mildred finally nodded her head in agreement causing the others to breath sighs of relief. They still had some time to convince their friend that she could still train here and learn what she needed here. It was true that she would probably need extra classes but the loss of their friend hardly seemed like a fair trade to some of them.

"Good, you can start by help with the cleanup of this mess." Beetle said. As the stout woman in a military style uniform glanced around at the mess. "I would love to charge you for it Hubble, but this time it wasn't your fault." She looked up at the ceiling in distaste calculating how much the repairs were going to cost. She then began organizing the people into cleaning crews so that they coud get as much of this out of the way as fast as possible.

Mildred sighed, her heart sinking as she realized that her time at Weirdsister College was already coming to a close. She had hoped that her time would be much longer and that she would have finished her education before she was forced to leave these halls. She had truly enjoyed the various studies and experimentations that they had performed here. The magic had been such a wonderful thing for her to experience. She wondered what things would be different for her once she was out in the real world. It seemed that already her life was about to change from what she had thought it would be. She wondered what Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom would say if they knew what was happening. When she was younger saving the school used to mean that she got to stay at the school not have to leave it. She paused as she thought more on that. Actually she was pretty sure she didn't want to know what Miss Hardbroom had to say to her becoming a real live hero and defender of magic. The stiff woman would probably have something less than complimentary to say to her about her qualifications at being a hero and the number of shortcomings she had that prevented her from being truly good at such a job. She would likely tell her to tie her boots up as well just for the sake of doing it. The woman would then say how Ethel would be a much better candidate for the job as a hero and representative of their part of the magical world than she Mildred Hubble could ever hope to be. At least she knew that Miss Cackle would be encouraging to her and try and comfort her for the tasks that she ahead of her.

All she could do now was study and prepare for the next time that she and the Witchblade were needed. She looked down at her wrist where the weapon was now resting. She never noticed the hungry looks that Ethel and Hobbes were sending her arm either. She hoped that her cat Tabby didn't mind all of the traveling that they were most likely going to be doing soon. It seemed as if their lives had gotten even more wild and unexpected than they had originally thought that they would be.

* * *

The Worst Witch is a very Harry Potter style series even though it predates HP by quite a bit. Wouldn't be surprised that JKR got some inspiration from it. As the books originally came out in 1974. It spawned a weak movie and a fun t.v series with two spinoffs in 2001. A majority of which you can find on youtube. Think HP without a war looming in the background. Any of the scoobies would likely have flourished in such a world of magic and its somewhat similar to BTVS style magic. How is that for weird and obscure source material? I'm going to blame batzulger and their The Military Option series for that. Now that is a writer that likes to use several rather obscure books/movies/and T.V shows in their fics.


	4. Strange

Wow its been a few weeks. Then again Jury Duty, wedding, Easter, changing the primary characters, and a few other things take up a lot of time. Dang I actually had a real life going there for a while.

Lets see the Sorcerer's Apprentice characters belong to Disney, L. Frank Baum is the creator of my villain, while Columbia Pictures and J. M. Barrie own the creative rights to some other characters that are mentioned in the story.  


* * *

Dave Stutle was a thin wiry young man that had spent most of his life alone. He had a few friends here and there, but for the most part he had been alone in his life. He was regarded as one of the brightest students around by his various professors but his lack of confidence meant that most was likely that he would never get far in life. In the past few months though everything had changed for him. He now had a purpose, and there were people in his life now that he cared for and in return cared for him. It was odd and somewhat ironic that that the very thing that had started his downward spiral into becoming a nobody brainiac would be the very thing that would give him back his life. When he was 10 years old he had stepped into an old junk shop that would send him on the path of a person that was afraid to succeed. He had met two different men that were as unlike each other as possible. Balthazar Blake and Maxim Horvath. The two men had one thing in common in that they were sorcerers, even if they did fight for opposite sides. He had witnessed the pair as they battled amongst themselves only to disappear into a jar. The entire thing had been more than the young boy had been able to understand and he had done his best to forget everything that he had seen that day. In the last few weeks though the young physics student had been forced to accept the fact that what he had seen had in fact been reality. A reality that had made him a part of it.

Since then he had discovered that he was a sorcerer as well. It turned out he was not just any sorcerer either. No, he was one that had been foretold by destiny that was supposed to stop one of the most powerful and evil magic users of time. According to his mentor, he was the Prime Merlinium, the heir to the magical power of the greatest of the magic users. He was supposed to be the next Merlin. Morgana Le Fey, had been stopped by him somehow despite all of the things that said that there should be no way for him to do so. He had beaten the spirit of one of the most powerful sorceress in time, and stopped her from raising an army of undead dark magic users that were dedicated to her. With only a few days of preparation and training the young physics prodigy who was the magical heir to Merlin had somehow managed to defeat one of the most dangerous casters known to man. Somehow he had managed to stop, Morgana, save his girlfriend, claim his potential power as the Prime Merlinium, and save his mentor Balthazar. All without being killed despite all of the powers that were arrayed against him.

Since his rather stunning and unanticipated victory, he had been forced to increase his level of training though. It seemed that the more magic users that heard of him the more of them that wanted to try their own hand against him and see if they could beat the one that had managed to defeat the infamous Morgana le Fay. With all of the various magic users, he had found himself facing off with various types of magic users. It turned out that not only was magic real even if it was hidden from the world at large but that there were several different kinds of magic as well. There was his type of magic user, which were also referred to as Sorcerer Class magic users. These were the type that required enchanted magical items like rings, necklaces, or other type of jewelry to act as a foci for their power. He had been surprised to learn of the many classes of magic users that there were out in the world. There was the Wizard Class: a group that lived in secluded conclaves that used special wands with pieces of magical animals as their foci. They were probably the most stereotypical of all of the various types of magic users since they rode brooms and had pointed hats. Witch Class: was one of the better ones as they didn't seem interested in trying to destroy him and prove themselves. They were a type of magic user that didn't require a foci of any sort in order to perform magic. They were also the main enemy of several different types of magical creatures and fought them with magical talents that allowed them, to perform a number of interesting skills and abilities. Wiccan Class: was very similar to the Witch Class in that they didn't require a foci. These two types of magic users used raw magic in their spells and they only guided the magic while calling on the forces of various Gods or the Earth. It was possibly the most temperamental type of magics, and had the largest likelihood of causing a backlash that could affect the caster if the proper methods weren't observed and followed. He'd met a powerful witch by the name of Sarah Baily who had told him of her own rise to power and how it had happened. It made him glad that he had people that could teach him about magic.

The abandoned subway station had become his home base for all things magical. It was here that he continued with his training, and prepared for whoever and whatever else came. The bad part of that was that there always seemed to be someone else out there that wanted to try their own strength against him. Word was going out about who and what he was and what he had already managed to accomplish. Already magic users from all over America had started showing up. According to Balthazar, it would only be a matter of time before people from other countries joined in on trying to beat him. Some of the magic users had left him with various other magical items. Various athames, weapons, potions, different types of foci, and magical items. Amongst these items included a scrying mirror that he was able to keep a lookout for things like surges of magic in the city and sometimes hold conversations with people. Balthazar could manage that piece of magic without even touching the mirror and could do it with regular glass if he wanted to.

He was blasted from his thoughts on his past conquests as he heard a sound that didn't belong in the abandoned subway turn station. He looked up and gaped in disbelief as he saw what looked like flying monkeys come flying down through the open door. It was like watching a cloud of bats as they erupted through the doorway. They swirled around the room making all sorts of noise as they entered the large room. Some of them would even grab onto bits and pieces of furniture or the walls. Soon the noise died down and he saw that the monkeys were everywhere. He figured there must be nearly a thousand of the creatures as his eyes scanned the intruders. He wondered who would perform this kind of magic.

There was a tapping sound and soon a short old woman that was walking with a noticeable limp was making her way towards him. She was short looking to be around five feet or so. She had green skin and gray hair which was done up in three braids. Upon her head she wore a golden aviators hat. "So you're the Prime Merlinium." The old woman grumbled, her eyes roaming up and down the boy as if she was judging the young man before her. "It's hard to believe that one such as Morgana lost to whelp like you." She sneered. "Still, perhaps there is more to you than is obvious as well. I know full well that sometimes the innocent looking are not without any power of their own." She said knowingly

"Of that there can be no doubt." A calm voice said, as a figure in a long leather trench coat stepped out of a shadow startling several of the winged monkeys. "Elphaba." The sorcerer said in greeting his sharp eyes roaming around the station.

"Balthazar." The figure said coolly, as she looked the man over. "You haven't changed much in the last 50 years."

"I see you managed to get your hat back." Balthazar returned looking at the golden hat that the figure wore.

"Yes it took some doing." The old crone grumbled glaring at some of the flying monkeys who shivered when her gaze fell onto them.

"Uh who is this?" Dave finally sputtered out.

"This is Elphaba." Balthazar returned mildly. "You might know her better as the Wicked Witch of the West though. Then again the monkeys should have been a clue for you my apprentice." He said teasingly.

"This is the Prime Merlinium?" The witch demanded while looking at the boy with disgust. "This child is the one that you waited millennia for?"

"You'll have to excuse my apprentice, he can be somewhat slow on the uptake at times." Balthazar said, while ignoring the insults that the woman was throwing at the both of them.

"Wait she's real?" Dave asked in shock as the introduction finally penetrated his mind.

"Indeed Dave, she's really real." Balthazar said with a sigh.

"So what, story book characters are real now to?" Dave said as he stared at the witch.

"Yes Dave they are." Balthazar returned his eyes never leaving the witch as he spoke.

"But isn't she supposed to be dead? The whole water and everything?" a confused Dave asked.

"Do not mention that girl or all that she did to my world." Elphaba hissed out angrily.

"She's rather sensitive about that." Balthazar said idly. "You'll find that many of the things that you once thought as flights of fancy are based in fact Dave. Most people just don't want to admit that they're real though so turn them into some form of entertainment to hide the truth from themselves. The sad part is that it's usually the children that suffer from this choice though The tale that you know so well is actually far different than the one that you know. It started out as one of the Watcher Diaries of a young Slayer that was whisked off to another dimension who then battled various dark forces." Balthazar said as he gestured with his hand and an old and worn book floated out of a book shelf and into his hand.

"Slayer?" Dave asked.

"A female mystical warrior that is empowered by a ritual that is even older than me." Balthazar told the boy. "They fight various creatures for reasons that are their own. They're masters of physical combat usually and have various mystical enhancements to aide them. I've heard rumors since I've gotten back though that some of the things dealing with the Slayer have changed though. Then again I was out of touch for some ten odd years. I suppose it's possible that things have changed."

"Better than the 1000 years that I was out of it." Veronica shot back at him, as she stepped out of the shadows that she had been hiding in. The sorceress had joined in the training of Dave and had in return been learning about the modern world and all that had changed since she had been imprisoned with Morgana.

"I see that the rumors are true the soul sorceress has been freed as well." Elphaba noted as her eyes scanned the young woman over with hungry interest. "It would be interesting to examine you and see if there were any changes done to you that Morgana caused."

"That won't be happening." Veronica returned.

"So does that mean characters like Peter Pan are real as well?" Dave interrupted the standoff between the two curiously. "If so, then book me a flight to Never Land."

"You wouldn't want to go there." Balthazar returned. "Never Land is a far cry from the peaceful world that is described. Peter Pan is actually a faye child, who captures children for his own purposes. He turns the girls into slaves by making them act as his mother while the boys are turned into its personal army of soldiers that fight either the Indian Braves and Shamans or the Sea Pirates. It's not all about what makes the Red Man Red or You Can Fly."

"So Captain Hook is actually a good guy that fights with Peter Pan?" Dave asked in awe forgetting the fact that the witch was standing there before them as he wrapped his head around the newest revelation that he was receiving."

"No, Captain James Hook is a Sea Mage of the highest order and of the absolute worst kind that uses the souls of those lost at sea to man his ship and battle with Peter Pan." Balthazar returned to his student. There are only a handful of seaman that are his match when it comes to life at sea. If either of them were to ever actually win their war the world would be the worst for it as they would likely come to this dimension and try and rule it."

"Oh." Dave said in shock as he realized that there appeared to be quite a bit missing from the tales if that was the truth.

"You can explain these things to him later Balthazar. If he survives that is." Elphaba said in a disgruntled voice as she glared at the three sorcerer level magic users. "I have come to issue a challenge to the boy. We shall see just how strong he really is, and if he is really as deserving of the place that he has recently been elevated to. I have my doubts personally and will see to it that this charlatan is put on display for all to see. Meet me outside boy I think its time to see if you really are as good as the rumors are making you to be."

"And if I were to say no?" Dave asked curiously.

"Then you'll never see your precious little blonde again." Elphaba returned, as a monkey flew overhead and dropped a familiar bag at their feet. "And trust me. after all of my dealings with the Gale girl I have very little liking for blondes."

"Becky." Dave mumbled as he knelt down and picked the bag up. He turned a scowl at the witch. "Where is she?" He asked with a glare that only made the witch smirk.

"If you wish to get her back then fight me boy. Let us see just what it is that the Prime Merlinium is capable of." She told him mockingly. "New York shall be our battleground, consider this the opening shot of our magical battle. Balthazar this fight is between the two of us I want you to stay out of this. By the rules of magical combat you know that you cannot personally battle me now." She said with a glare. "Or we will see how much blood I can spill. You have one day boy if you have not saved her then your pretty little girl belongs to me."

"No." Dave said as he fired a plasma bolt at the witch only for it to pass right through her.

"At least your heads in the game." The witch said with a cruel smile. "Hurry boy. the clock is ticking, and soon you'll be out of times and New York is hardly a small place to search. If not, I'm sure that I shall find a use for her. She might make good food or a nice little slave girl depending on the mood I'm in." The image of the witch cackled as her form faded away. The monkeys took the vanishing of their mistress as their signal to leave as they rose back up into the air and dove out the door.

Dave turned to look towards his master. "Is there anything that we can do to stop her?"

"Hard to say." Balthazar admitted. "Elphaba is one of the more powerful magic users that I've ever met and considering some of the magic users that I've met over the years that's saying something. The fact that she uses demon magic makes her even more dangerous. If you had lost to Morgana she would have just destroyed you. If Elphaba beats you though it will likely be with your and Becky's souls forced to endure unmentionable pain and agony for untold centuries worth of torture in the pits of some sort of demon realm. Being who you are and your potential as being one of the primary forces of good your soul is actually pretty valuable to beings that deal in things like that." Balthazar said knowingly.

"So is there anything that might be able to stop her?" Dave questioned desperately, as his eyes began scanning the various magical objects around the room. "Surely some of this junk that we've been gathering around here should be able to help even the odds." He suggested to his mentor.

"Doubtful." Balthazar returned to his apprentice. "Elphaba has the entire winged monkey nation under her command, as long as she has that golden hat and it wouldn't surprise me if she brought some of her other soldiers as well. You'll be facing hundreds of creatures that won't hesitate for a moment to try and destroy you."

"So what do we do?" Dave asked bitterly.

"Thanks to the rules that Elphaba invoked, there is only so much we can do since we can not directly confront her until you yourself are dead. On the plus side we can fight with any troops that she decides to use."

"We also finish with awakening your true potential. Balthazar returned to the college student. "It's time to make you Merlin, the greatest sorcerer that there is."

"Are you sure that's wise? It could be dangerous for him, even with as far as he has come in recent time." Veronica said as she stared at her lover with concern over what he was planning.

"Normally I would say your right, but we're running out of options here thanks to everything that's going on." Balthazar returned to her. Since the Morganna ordeal I've been putting out feelers for a lot of my old contacts. It seems that over the past few years a lot of the people that were fighting the good fight have fallen or been taken out in some way or other. It's made the world a lot darker since then though. The ones that did all of the work don't seem to have left behind very many heirs to their duties. He said grimly. He thought back to all that he had done over the years in preparing people to watch over parts of the world. He had been the glue holding them all together it seemed and hadn't been around to direct them things had quickly fallen

"I thought I already was showing my true potential now though?" A confused Dave questioned the ancient sorcerer. I thought that I unlocked my true potential when I started performing magic without a foci like Merlin used to.

"No, you've only started to unlock your true potential." Balthazar informed him as he summoned a book to his hand. "In order to do this we need to make you the best that there is."

"So, how do we do that?"

"We use an empowering ritual." Balthazar explained to him. "We need to combine your power along with Merlin's knowledge." He waved his hand and a glowing ritual circle formed on the ground. The sorcerer nodded as he began chanting and a blast of power shot upward. When the light faded the group of sorcerer's saw the specter of an old man.

"Master." Balthazar and Veronica said as they knelt to the figure in respect while Dave looked on in awe.

"Balthazar, Veronica." Merlin greeted his former protégés gesturing for them to rise up. Once they were back on their feet he looked at the two suspiciously. "Why have you summoned my spirit here? I can see that my place has been taken by my heir." He said nodding toward a slack jawed Dave. "My time in this world is over young ones. It is his time to do things."

"Indeed Master, however a powerful demon magic user has appeared, and we need your knowledge of magic in order to combat such a thing." Balthazar explained to the ghost.

Merlin nodded, as he turned to look his magical heir over. "So you need the knowledge to go along with your power. Have you managed to defeat Morganna yet?"

"Yes." Dave confirmed. "It was a close one, but we somehow managed to get it done. I managed to get your ability to cast magic without foci at the last minute." He said, as he showed that he wasn't wearing the dragon ring that was the mark of the Prime Merlinium. He then created a plasma ball in his hand before causing it to vanish.

"Unfortunately, he started rather late in his training and is now being forced to catch up thanks to Horvath." Balthazar added in. "It was actually useful at that time because it allowed everyone including Morganna to underestimate him and allow him to use his magic in unorthodox ways that gave him victory."

"But because of this, people are no longer underestimating him anymore now are they?" Merlin questioned as he saw the problem that his students and heir faced. "You're hoping that I can transfer my knowledge into the boy and somehow give him the understanding of magic that will allow him to compete on the same level as that his opponents."

"Yes master." Balthazar said in agreement.

"Such spells to do this are out there." The spirit admitted to the group carefully. "However, they are dangerous magic because they can override the original personality creating a form of possession if the ones performing the magic is not careful." Merlin informed the group warningly.

"I'm aware of the dangers Master, but you have to consider the fact that this may truly be the only way to fight this witch though." Balthazar returned to his mentor. "There are lives at stake, and something tell me that she won't stop with just this one and will continue until she is satisfied."

The specter nodded at that looking somewhat annoyed at this latest bit of information. "There are other methods of performing similar spells though. What of using the imagination empowering spell? It's equally useful in these circumstances and doesn't have the potential to destroy the core personality of the one that is enchanted." Merlin suggested while looking toward his students.

Balthazar nodded after a moment of consideration. "I suppose it's possible." He conceded. "However, there are not that many imaginary characters that would work for something like this."

"Uh what are you guys talking about?" Dave questioned them.

"It's a spell that allows you to take the power of imaginary characters. It's a powerful spell the changes are nearly permanent though so you have to be sure that you want to do it as there is no going back." Balthazar explained to the young sorcerer. "Unfortunately I don't know if the world of today has any of those kinds of heroes though." The 1000 year old magic user admitted. "I'm afraid I haven't exactly kept up with the heroes of today."

"Maybe this will help then." Dave said as his backpack came flying toward him. He rummaged through it and pulled out a dog eared thin booklet. "Here maybe this will do it." He suggested while offering the brightly colored item to his mentor.

Balthazar accepted the item and then flipped the book open while Merlin looked at it with interest. "Such intricate work, a master must have worked for many years to get such detail done."

"Something like that." Balthazar said bemusedly, not really wanting to explain how far technology had forge ahead since his death. The idea that this was one of hundreds if not thousands would probably stun the legendary magic user into silence. "This looks like it will work my apprentice." He congratulated as he looked at a figure of a man with a red cape. "Stand in the ritual circle." He commanded. Dave followed the order and soon the specter of Merlin along with Veronica and Balthazar began chanting. A moment later the light shot upward and hid him from view as the magics starting changing him Dave let out a scream as parts of him were being changed irreversibly. The three figures on the outside ignored the pain filled screams though and continued to pour magic into the ritual circle. They had to get this just right. Not enough power and it could stunt his growth as a magic user. Too much though and they could overload his body with magic and cause him to explode.

When the light faded Dave could be seen on his hands and knees gasping for pain filled breath. "Did it work?" He rasped out at them weakly.

"I don't know, can you bring to mind how the various aspects of magic work?" Balthazar asked curiously.

Dave rose to his feet and saw that his clothes had changed. He was wearing a blue silk shirt a dark red leather trench coat, black jeans and his old man shoes. "This is different." The boy said as he examined his changed clothes. "Better than a cape or cloak as well."

"Yes, yes boy, but can you feel the knowledge for the magic that you must command?" Merlin asked in irritation. Annoyed at the boy's interest in his appearances. He also wondered what the boy had against cloaks. They were perfectly useable and fashionable as far as he was concerned.

Dave waved his hands and energy erupted from his hands. "Wow this is amazing." He said he formed a plasma ball in either hand and then with a few mumbled words the ball lengthened to create a giant eagle out of the plasma. "It's all so clear." Dave said. "I think I'm finally starting to understand everything that you've been trying to teach me." He gestured, and the eagle shifted into a dragon, and then into an X-Wing. I think that you can call me Strange now though. He told his masters.

The pair nodded their acceptance of the request. Often times a magic user would change their name to signify a change that had happened to them.

"You now have the knowledge, you still lack the control and wisdom, young Strange, hopefully this will help you young sorcerer." Merlin said. "Now go and save those that are in need of your aide." The specter of the most famous magic user faded away into nothing.

"Goodbye master." The pair of older sorcerers said sadly, as they watched him leave.

"You two coming Balthazar?" Strange asked as he waved his hands and the mirror began cycling through images of the city searching for the location of the demon witch and his girlfriend.

"I'll head for the skyscrapers and get you some backup something tells me that those monkeys aren't going to be the only thing that she decides to bring to the fight." Balthazar said.

"Alright." Strange said he waved his hand and a portal opened before him. "I have a few ideas on how to counter that as well." He said as he stepped through the portal.

Balthazar smiled it seemed his student was coming into his own with the power and knowledge that he now had he was almost ready to be out on his own. It seemed that the boy wasn't interested in that though, and like Merlin before him would rather have a force of magic users to deal with these problems. It was that very thinking that had made it so that in the end Morgana and her followers failed while they did not. The two sorcerer class magic users rushed up to a familiar skyscraper. Slipping into the Chrysler building and getting on the outside was not easy. Each of them laid their hands upon an eagle statue and the building ornaments shifted its shoulders as they came to life. Soon a half dozen of the metallic creatures were standing at the ready.

"So what do you think that your apprentice has planned?" Veronica asked as she moved to another metallic eagle.

"Honestly, with Dave, or Strange now, it's hard to be sure." Balthazar admitted to her. "He's got a head full of ideas, and one can never be sure just what to expect from him."

"Thanks." A voice said the two looked up to see Strange stepping out of another glowing portal. "Are they ready?" He asked, looking towards the eagles. "I've found where we need to be. Let's go." He ordered, as he leaped off the side of the building. The two ancient sorcerers watched in shock as the young man rose into the air.

"Impressive." Veronica complimented.

"Can't argue with that." Balthazar said in agreement. The two of them clambered onto the eagles who then took off. A few minutes later they could see Elphaba and her force that was waiting for them. Along with the flying monkeys there was a force of green skinned soldiers with spears and some form of creature that looked like men that were bent over and standing on their toes and hands. The only difference though was that they had wheels in place of the hands and feet.

"What are they?" Veronica asked, as she looked the army over with interest.

"The flying monkeys are Elphaba's shock troops, the soldier looking ones are Winkies, they've been enchanted to look like that, finally there are the Wheelers the foot soldiers of the Gnome King." Balthazar explained to them.

"Which means she either beat him, or he's around here as well." Strange said. "Do either of you see Becky?" The two sorcerers shook their heads in the negative. "Fine, then I guess we'll have to do this the hard way. He began moving forward, and stepped out from behind the brush that had hidden them. He created a plasma ball in either hand as he walked towards the assembled force. "You wanted a faceoff?" He demanded of the witch.

"Indeed little sorcerer, the only difference is that I have an army what do you have? A couple of old has beens and glorified statues." She sneered at him as she looked at the pitiful forces that he had managed to bring against her. Hardly the result I was expecting from the Prime Merlinium.

"Call me Strange." He returned to her. "I also have a host of new spells that you might like." Strange shot off at the witch. "Here's one you might like." He then began chanting a spell out. "Treguna, Mekoides, Trecorum Satis Dee."

"And what will that do?"

"Take a look." Strange said nodding towards the road. Everyone's eyes followed where he gestured and they saw mannequins, various suits of armor lining up into combat positions, old bi-planes, and many other things. With the power he now wielded Strange had summoned forth his own army to counter the one that the witch had brought with her. The army Strange had summoned seemed to stretch out as far as the eye could see. There was a chance that its numbers equaled that of the horde that the witch had brought forward.

"It would seem there's more to you than I first thought." Elphaba admitted grudgingly as her eyes looked back and forth at the army that was coming at her. Despite the changing in the odds her voice carried no doubt from the changes that the spell had created. "What did you do, knock over a museum?"

"More than one actually." Strange said, his own voice echoing back at the witch as he saw a cavalry forming with George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt taking the lead with their units. Off to the side he saw several archer from various forming in the back while the foot soldiers took up their own positions. Yes this was going to be one heck of a battle he only hoped that all the people stayed away. "Last chance to hand Becky over and go back to your own dimension." He offered her. "No one here has to die."

Elphaba cackled at this. "Are you kidding boy, I haven't had this sort of a challenge since I crushed the Gnome King." She raised a gnarled finger, and pointed it at the approaching army. "Destroy everything you see." She commanded her forces.

The flying monkeys leaped into the air or off of the various buildings while the screeching sound of the wheels of the Wheelers echoed through the streets as the moved forward and the Winkies moved as a single unit and began to march toward his own army all the while chanting in dark monotonous voices.

Strange swallowed, this was going to be tough it was going to take all of the knowledge that he had gathered over the years from various strategy games like World of Warcraft, Ages of the Empires, and D&D, to counter this force. "Eagles and archers and gunmen deal with those monkeys he commanded, cavalry handle the Wheelers the rest of you foot soldiers move forward and prepare to engage. He barked as he saw the force that was moving at them.

Each commander watched as their armies engaged. The lifeless army of the Sorcerer Supreme verses the demonic army of the Wicked Witch of the West. Guns cracked through the silent air and monkeys fell from the sky. Suits of armor and mannequins of famous people rushed at the Wheelers and Winkies and slashed through parts of their ranks. Steel eagles cried out angrily as they flew through the ranks of enemy snapping and grabbing at opponents that got in their way.

The first assault was doing good. Strange thought as he watched. He then saw that Elphaba was opening a portal and more troops were spilling out. Soon they would be outnumbered and the numbers would blow through his own ranks. He winced as he saw one of the eagles go down weighted down by hundreds of flying monkeys. It tried to raise itself, but one of its wings lay off to the side. Helicopters were also infiltrating the air space taking video of what was happening. His idea of keeping this secret was already gone. People who had no idea what was going on had come out to watch what they probably thought was an elaborate movie shooting.

"Protect the people." He commanded the army. Half of his force switched from offense to defense as they disengaged from the enemy to protect the spectators. The three sorcerers slowly walked through the army. The two older magic wielders each carried a sword in one hand and fired plasma balls from the other as they moved through the battlefield.

"Remind me to teach you some sword basics after this is over." Balthazar noted as he fired a plasma ball at a charging Wheeler while he blocked a spear with his sword. "If things are going to get like this, then your going to need all of the tools that you can get."

Strange nodded in agreement as he lifted rubble that was lying around and sent it sailing at a group of incoming monkeys forcing them to divert their path and fly into a hail of arrows and bullets. "Any ideas where we might find Becky?"

"Most likely with Elphaba." Veronica returned to him, as she sliced the wing off of a monkey. "She may want to use her as a bargaining tool or as a lure to bring you ever closer to her. The fact that she's at the back though means that we'll have to fight our way through an army of creatures before we can engage her though."

Strange nodded, and raised his hands and conjured several plasma balls in his hands and released them allowing them to swirl around him. As he walked through the crowd whenever a creature got close enough he either let one of the plasma balls hit his defenses or he made a gesture and one of the plasma balls broke free from the circle and hurled at the opponent. A few times he even performed other spells such as conjuring circular saw blades and sending them flying or causing cables to wrap around the opponent only for one of his mentors or the various animated objects to finish the job. Because of so many creatures that were standing in their way the 20 minute walk too nearly an hour to get done. Strange saw that his mentors had broken away from him to assist with tight knots of opponents. He was sure that if he called that they would come, but he also knew that they were doing important work by trying to contain the battle in this area. He looked up and saw that several of the building had people looking out windows or standing at the top of buildings watching the results of the battle. The thing was, despite how jaw dropping it all seemed it was merely the opening act.

"I take it your ready then sorcerer?" Elphaba said from her place at the top of a hill.

"Last chance to stop this." Strange returned.

"Never." She declared as she blew a green mist out of her mouth.

Strange forced himself into the air and away from the attack. He looked at the ground where he had been standing and saw that the concrete was melting from whatever she had sent at him. He pushed his hands forward and sent all of the plasma balls that had been guarding him at her in rapid fire attack.

Elphaba jerked one arm up into a fist and a golem rose out of the ground in front of her and took the hit instead of her. The remains of the attack then came rushing at Strange.

Strange waved his hands, and the incoming rubble changed into bubbles. He then waved his hands and the ground erupted as a muddy snake the size of a tour bus rose out of the ground and lunged at the witch. Fire erupted around the snake baking it causing the dirt to harden freezing the creature. A large flying monkey the size of a gorilla then smashed into the creation shattering it. The shards then came flying at Strange who changed them into flowers.

Elphaba looking annoyed brought her index fingers and thumbs together to create a diamond shape and then twisted her arms and a tornado flew out of the diamond and rushed at Strange. The sorcerer raised a shield, but the force of the blast still sent him flying back.

"Alright, there has to be some sort of irony for a Witch from Oz using a tornado to fight with." Strange said, as he regained control of his flight and charged back at Elphaba, He clapped his hands together, and a stream of plasma erupted from his hand and raced towards the witch. The witch did something with her feet and disappeared. "Of course she has the magic slippers as well." Strange grumbled, as he searched for where his opponent had disappeared to. He turned and saw a giant battering ram with the metal head of a boar flying at him. He coated his hand with magic and sent a blast of magic and slice through the ram rushing at him. The ram fell apart and the broken ends rushed by on either side of him. He turned and saw Elphaba was sitting on a broom as she was casting magic.

The two then began exchanging brightly colored bolts of magic at each other as they moved through the air. The battle that had started on the land and had used the ground around them now had changed into a dogfight. Strange imagined that from a distance it probably looked very pretty, but for him it was a deadly blaze of power. Drawing more power to him he created another shield. He then used another one of the new tools that he had gotten from the spell. He felt the Eye of Agamotto warm up and send a bright bolt of energy at the witch.

Elphaba sent a stream of magic back at him and the two blasts competed with each other as they tried to overwhelm each other. With a surge of power the beam from the eye broke through and slammed into Elphaba. The witch screamed as she felt Strange's mind rip into her.

"Get out." She yelled. "There's no way that you can handle what you're going to see boy!" She declared, and with an effort she broke the connection between the two of them.

Strange smirked. "Thanks, I now know where Becky is." He said, and spun around before disappearing into a bolt of red lighting that struck a ground in front of a gazebo. He reformed back into his human form and looked the gazebo over. With a wave of his hand he caused the area around it to shimmer, and he saw a Becky. She was beating on the air as if there was a glass wall that was surrounding her. With another wave of his hand a mist seemed to rise as various wards were destroyed. "Hey." He said as he helped the blonde out of the gazebo.

"Took you long enough." Becky returned, as she stepped out of gazebo. "Interesting new look." She complimented.

"Thanks." Dave returned, the pair turned to see Elphaba land nearby. Judging from the scowl on her face she was far from pleased with how things had turned out. The sorcerer went back to his Strange mentality.

"You may have saved her from being sacrificed, but you are all going to die." The witch informed him. "And there is nothing that you can do to stop me and my army."

"We'll just have to see about that." Strange returned, as he watched another of his eagles go crashing to the ground while another's wings ripped through the window of a building that it flew to close to. "Time to end this." He said, and began muttering a spell and the ground rumbled and soon the surrounding fire hydrants and sprinklers erupted as water forced their way through.

Elphaba smirked at him. "A little lesson for you boy, it wasn't just regular water that slayer used to beat me with." She said as she stood confidently as the water fell down around them.

"She's right, it requires holy water." Strange said in understanding. He began chanting and the water seemed to sparkle for a moment and Elphaba yelped as the water started to fall on her/

"How?" She demanded as she glared at him. "You are no man of god, if so you would not be a sorcerer."

"Your right, that doesn't mean that I can't purify the water though." Strange returned to her. As the water fell, it seemed to lend strength to the land and armor while the various forces kept on getting distracted by the water. The monkeys were down as their wings became soaked and the Winkies seemed to be losing strength under the water while the Wheelers were having trouble moving around in the soaked ground.

Elphaba looked at Strange murderously. "I may not have won the battle this time Prime Merlinium, but you have become known to the world now as well. She said as she gestured with her hands. If I cannot defeat you hear then I shall be sure to show the world what you are capable of. She raised her hands and mystical energy spewed out striking the various buildings causing all sorts of damage. Strange formed a protective bubble for him and Becky and the two watched as she began ripping the town apart as more and more arcane energies spewed out of her.

"I hope this work." Strange said, as he began gesturing and a portal opened. "It's time for you to go back to your homeland." He said as the portal began sucking everything up first stray bolts of magic, but soon the remnants of the flying monkeys Wheelers and Winkies were lifted up and began to fly through the portal.

Elphaba screamed as she saw that her army was being forced back into Oz. Several tornadoes popped up around her and each went a different way. Strange watched as Balthazar and Veronica each moved to intercept one that left three more that had to be dealt with though. It seemed as if the tornados were trying their best to cause as much damage as possible. Strange could stop them, but if he did that the portal spell would be broken and the army would begin moving back out of it.

"What a choice eh Prime Merlinium?" Elphaba asked in amusement. "Do you defeat the army or try and save the people?"

"I trust my master to do what's needed." Strange returned, they watched as Balthazar slammed his hands to the ground and the paths that the tornadoes were taking were suddenly blocked as the ground rose up and blocked them. "See, told you." Strange said cockily. "Then again he's probably the only guy that's crazy enough to raise the street to block a tornado." He added. The tornadoes began turning working their way into the buildings tearing and chipping away at them. Bolts of lighting slashed out of the tornado and burned and destroyed things. Strange increased the power of the portal as it began drawing more and more figures into it.

Soon all that was left was Elphaba who was somehow using all of her power to resist the power. "I will not let myself be beaten by a whelp like you." She declared.

"Then how about I beat you." Becky said as she came up behind the witch and hit her with a fallen tree branch. The witch stumbled from the blow and the moment of surprise was all that Strange needed. With one final surge the portal sucked the witch up. There was a clatter and they saw that the slippers had been left behind.

Balthazar knelt down and picked the shoes up. "These may come in handy." He said calmly, despite everything that they had just been through.

"How so?" Dave asked curiously as he tiredly leaned against Becky. He had used up pretty much all of his magical power in stopping the witch from destroying New York and it would be a while before he could perform large area spells again. The Strange personae was also fading as he returned to his usual mindset.

"They enhance ones power." Veronica explained while Balthazar nodded his head in agreement. "There's no telling what their potential might be if used correctly."

"Look, all of that is neat but we need to get out of here now." Becky said nodding towards several men in cop and military uniforms making their ways towards them. Judging by the fact that they had drawn weapons they didn't look overly friendly at the moment.

"She's right," Balthazar agreed, "trust me, we don't want to find ourselves under scrutiny of governments. They get it in their heads that they should be the ones to control you. The days that magic users were kept as advisors has long since passed. Now of days they think that they can turn you into their own weapons." Dave nodded and the army of museum pieces stepped in between them not stopping them but making it more difficult for them to get through. "You'll have to tell me what you were doing using the spell of Astroath later." He added. "Getting the book back after the entire house exploded wasn't exactly easy."

"Sorry." Dave returned the sorcerers linked hand and the entire group seemed to vanish.

When the various people got to where the group had been standing there was nothing for them to find. "Where are they?" One man wearing a colonel's rank demanded as he looked around suspiciously. "I know they were right here."

"Unknown sir." One of the accompanying soldiers said as he watched the armor start to sink to the ground as whatever force holding the armor up failed. The fact that all of it had seen battle was not going to make the various museum curators happy. The man thought bemusedly. Then again he doubted that there was a lot about this situation that was going to make anyone happy. Two armies wielding medieval weapons and some form of energy had destroyed a large part of New York and then vanished. He was just glad the Chrysler building statues had pulled themselves together and already left. Maybe if he tried really hard he could pretend that none of this had actually happened.

"I want those people that did this found at once." The colonel barked. "That's an order from the president himself. He said that if there are people out there with that much power then we need to insure that they're on our side."

"And if they're not sir?" The soldier asked curiously.

"Then we need to make sure that we can deal with them if they ever try and do something like this again." The colonel said. "I want this entire area gone over until you can figure out how they were doing what they were doing."

"I'm guessing that magic isn't the answer." The man said glibly.

"Do I look like I'm interested in comedy routines soldier?"

"No sir."

"Then get to it I want everything inspected."

The group of invisible magic users shook their heads. Dave was particularly shock as he realized the danger that he was now in thanks to their battle. The government was looking for him and they wanted him under their control it seemed. "What happens now?" He asked worriedly.

"We find place to hole up for a while." Balthazar informed him. "Fortunately I doubt that there's anyone that can stand up to you as you are though."

Dave nodded as he accepted the fact that he was going to have to go into hiding now instead of facing off against the military. He was glad about that though, since he wasn't sure he would have been able to hold up against all of them. It seemed that because of magic his life had changed once again. He wondered if he would ever have the normal life that he wished for, or if he would be stuck from now on going from problem to problem. He was afraid of the answer. The group left the battle site and reappeared in their base.

"Welcome to the Inner Sanctum." Dave said tiredly. It looked like things had just gotten more interesting with regular people looking for him now. Only time would tell what happened next. As long as he had these people with him though then he was pretty sure that he could weather whatever storm that came.  


* * *

Was a real trick deciding who was going to become Strange. Dave was in competition with Nathan Ford, Indiana Jones, and Harry Dresden. Nathan will appear in another part of this if I get that far though.

I chose the name of the witch due to that being the most popular version of her name. If it's true or not I have no idea.


End file.
